Ignored
by mathmaddy
Summary: A few weeks before the S-class exam, Natsu starts to ignore Lucy. She assumes it's just because he's training, but after he makes S-class he continues to ignore her presence. When ignoring her doesn't work, Natsu decides to cut Lucy out of his life entirely, telling no one but Gray of his true motives, not even Lucy, which puts her in a terrible situation. (NOT a Lucy leaves)
1. A Silent Night

**OK, I swear this time I'm actually going to keep up and update the entire story before continuing the story so please forgive me for my negligence. I promise I will continue the story for all of you guys to read so until then, please enjoy and have fun with my new and improved writing style. These chapters are going to be longer and better than ever. Unfortunately, I still do not own Fairy Tail however. Oh well, please enjoy this work with Mashima's loveable character's. ~mathmaddy**

Chapter 1

It had been a long day, but it was finally over and Lucy was lying in her bed going over the events of that day. It had been the perfect day, well, almost perfect. She still couldn't believe that Natsu had made S class, I mean, she knew he was powerful, but, she guessed she always just thought things would always stay the way they were before you know, everything. Time had passed quickly after they'd come back, and it'd been about a year since the last trial, well, rather seven if you thought about it. After all, they were technically frozen on tenroujima for six years, although it didn't feel like it. It was crazy when you thought about it, seven years of her life had passed without her even being there. She regretted a lot of things, like waiting to try and start things up with her father again, or even waiting to call him. She'd planned to do it once they'd gotten back, but when they had, he was gone forever.

She couldn't believe it, did life really pass that quickly? Was it really so precious that if you falter for even a second you can lose what's dear to you? Lucy knew her father wasn't really in the best of conditions. He'd been working hard after deciding to start over, and she could see the toll it had taken on his body. It was days like these that made her think of her father like that, days where she remembered things. On those types of days she usually had her friends by her side, or at least Natsu and Happy, who always seemed to be in her apartment. This time, she was alone, Natsu was probably still at the guild with Happy.

Speaking of a flying, blue cat, she also couldn't believe that Natsu had chosen Happy over her again. She knew he and Happy were friends ever since they were little, Happy's birth actually, but she'd always thought her and Natsu had something...special. Some sort of bond that always connected them. It was probably just her imagination, she decided, after all, it was probably because Natsu always seemed to be around. I mean, her and Natsu, it was ridiculous, they just weren't like that. Even if she wanted to be, she doubted she would ever be able to be Natsu's girlfriend. Her heart ached more and she realized just how alone she really was in life, how empty the world had seemed lately, especially with Natsu gone.

Knowing that Natsu didn't choses her left a pang in her heart, the same way it did last time. At least last time she had someone, she murmured to herself. Now it was like nobody even really noticed her, she was invisible and no one cared. Even Natsu hadn't spent much time with her lately, and this time Cana had decided to take the test with someone else. Even though seven years had actually passed, it only felt like a couple months since she had been in it with it with Cana. So why did Cana want a new partner? Was Lucy not good enough? She had thought she and Cana had managed to hold their own in the fight, although they did receive a little help, but hey, there was nothing wrong with luck, right? Luck was most definitely a true show of heart and skill

Plus, Natsu had to have had a little luck and help to make his way past Gildarts, right? There was no way he could've gotten past him otherwise. It wasn't that Natsu wasn't strong enough, it was that Gildarts was too strong. Plus Natsu was strong in heart, where it mattered the most. A guy like him was even willing to sacrifice his life to save a girl like her, despite having his own dreams. Lucy's heart fluttered as she thought of all the times Natsu had gotten hurt saving her. She felt a pang of guilt inside before reminding herself that that was seven years ago. She'd gotten stronger now. Not that it mattered to him, he either didn't notice or didn't care. She knew she hadn't improved dramatically. but her powers had been enhanced.

Lucy shifted in her bed. I mean, it wasn't like she was as powerful as Erza, but at least she had as much usefulness as Happy, if not more, though she supposed she couldn't fly, but it wasn't like Happy could fight like she could. Plus she was smarter, so she could end up being at least ten times as useful as Happy, especially since it was Natsu they were talking about. After all, Natsu wasn't exactly the brightest person she knew, and that was being nice. Truthfully, he was a total airhead who listened only to instinct. The test had an emphasis on strategy, and strategy was pretty important last time, so how could Natsu have not picked someone a little more intelligent? Someone more like her. I mean, last time Gray and Loke ended up following them because they knew Lucy was smart and could figure out the riddle. I mean Natsu chose his airhead cat over her!

Lucy shifted again, this time it was followed by a huff. Wait, why was she even upset? It wasn't like she had really wanted to take the test again, or even cared if she made S-class. She was perfectly fine where she was in life. She was able minded and able bodied and she'd managed to create a good new life for herself away from the Heartfilia Konzern, though it hadn't been easy. She was perfectly fine with the fact that she may never have to take the test again. She supposed it still hurt that Natsu didn't chose her over his cat, after all, it was like saying she was worse than his stupid, flying, powerless, good-for-nothing pet whose only real talent was flying unless you counted being annoying, rude, heartless, obnoxious and, and getting in between them...cat

Lucy paused as she realized she was doing it again, getting upset over nothing. Lucy pulled her blankets up tighter and listened to the bugs outside. Bugs could be pretty annoying, they always chirped in a high pitch and didn't stop until late at night. She sighed as she got up to shut the window. Wait a minute, she could hear the bugs, as in, the super-uber annoying bugs. She, Lucy Heartfilia, could hear the bugs, the bugs that she shouldn't be able to hear at all. Was she in someone else's house? To hear the bugs could mean only one thing, it meant that it had to be quiet. And if it was quiet, that meant Natsu was either sleeping, not likely at this hour considering he'd kept her up until morning before even after, maybe even especially after the events of the day, or not currently in her house.

Lucy ran back and checked her bed. She had been in her bed, Natsu wasn't. Which confirmed the fact that, for once, Natsu wasn't invading her privacy. Was he okay? He wasn't injured, was he? Maybe doing the S-class quest had tired him out more than she thought. Wait, why was she worrying? Why should she care, he had other people to take care of him. And apparently Happy was a better companion for him than her, so what did she care? If he had Happy, he didn't need her, and she didn't need him either. That's right, Natsu hasn't been hanging around me lately she reminded herself, ignoring the pain that once again set deep in her chest. She had peace, so she took advantage of that and closed her eyes.

Now that she thought about it, it was nice to have some peace when you were trying to sleep. Nice, calm, and quiet. Yes, that was exactly how she wanted it, exactly how it should be. Just quiet, it was a simple thing to ask. No noise what-so-ever. Lucy turned onto her side, noting that her bed was a little colder than she'd remembered it. She thought her comforter was usually a little warmer. Maybe it was just colder outside, she thought, refusing to admit it was due to the absence of a certain flame mage. She closed her eyes and pulled her blankets around her. It was too quiet, as in, there needed to be some noise. She wasn't willing to admit it just yet but after all the chaos that seemed to surround her daily the silence now made her uneasy. How did she ever deal with it before now? How could she sleep if she didn't hear Natsu's rhythmic snores beside her? Or his cute sleeping face, or him mumbling in his sleep. Or what about the sweet way that whenever she would try to leave he would whisper, "Don't leave me," every night.

She shifted again, it was ok, he was probably still at the guild. They would make sure he was all right, they'd taken care of him all the years she hadn't been there. Plus he was S-Class now, he could take care of himself, even if he was a bit of an idiot. Well, maybe she should give him some credit though, after all, he did keep breaking into her house. So what if he wasn't there now, he'd likely be here again tomorrow. Or maybe he would go to his own house, he did have one after all, not to mention a bed of his own he never seemed to sleep in. In fact, maybe he was there right now, there was no need to worry.

Besides lately he'd been spending a lot of time with the Strauss's or rather Lisanna. Perhaps he was giving her a break and pestering someone else for a change. Maybe he would finally stop breaking into her tiny rented apartment and breaking her things. She would be better off if he did, after all, she was tired of always paying for the repairs that needed to be made. Yes, it would be better if he was with the Strauss's since they could actually control him. Plus now that Lisanna was back they'd had a lot more income coming in, much more than she'd managed to bring in for a single month. Besides, it was one night, for now at least. She still couldn't sleep, in fact, it was worse.

Somehow the thought of Natsu in another girl's house made her upset, especially if it was Lisanna. I mean, Lisanna had a lot to offer Natsu, a lot of things Lucy couldn't. Lisanna and Natsu had known each other for ages, ever since they were little, and Happy loved Lisanna, much more than he loved her. Lisanna was also beautiful in a way Lucy never was, besides, Natsu had made it clear to Lucy that he wasn't particularly attracted to her. Lucy could never offer financial security the way Lisanna could and at any given time Lucy could be kicked out of the house that Natsu was always hanging around. Most of all though, Lisanna was so nice, so sweet to everybody, and everybody loved her. Compared to all of that, Lucy was nothing, a mere partner picked for convenience while Lisanna was away.

Lucy decided to slip out of her bed and she stumbled to the kitchen without even thinking about it.. Maybe a drink would help, she did usually drink milk whenever she wasn't feeling great or when she was sad. It had even become a daily occurrence for her before bed because it calmed Natsu down, plus Happy loved it, and it usually gave her enough peace of mind to go to sleep and deal with the damage later. Lucy blinked her eyes a few times and opened up her dreadfully barren fridge.

She grabbed the almost empty jug of milk and headed toward the small counter. She had only just filled her glass and started heading back to her room when she got a piece of glass stuck in her foot. She plopped herself on the floor and wriggled the small shard out and carefully continued back over to the counter. This time, more awake and aware of everything, she saw a note that Natsu had left her, at least she assumed, considering the handwriting was just about right. Not to mention the slight wrinkles and a small burn mark peeking out of the bottom right corner. Lucy angrily snatched up the slightly crumpled note and drew it to her face.

_Sorry Luce, I know you're always telling me not to touch your glass cups because I'll break them. You even got those plastic ones so I could use them, but nobody ever lets me use glass cups, so I wanted to try. Everyone's always teasing me about how I can't use them, and it's not fair! They never even let me try back at the guild. So anyway, earlier today, Gray offered me a baby bottle! I'm not a child! So, you know, I decided that he went too far, so I tried using a glass cup. They wouldn't give me one at the guild, so I came here to borrow one of yours. You know, that way I can prove to Gray that I can use them and he won't insult me anymore, oh and Gajeel was definitely in on it too. Man I should beat them up after this. Anyway, you were right. I shouldn't use glass cups. They are fragile, and break very easily. Very easily, I mean, I barely touched it! Anyway, I just wanted to let you know, it's all their fault that your cup got broken since they made fun of me. Don't be too mad at them though, oh, or me. -Natsu_

Lucy sighed. That was just like Natsu, breaking her stuff and blaming it on others. She could almost see his grin as if he was there. Come to think of it, when had Natsu been in her house when she wasn't? Especially these past few days, Lucy hadn't seen Natsu around at all. He'd been on a super training trip as soon as it was announced that he'd be eligible for the S-class exam. Nobody had seen him for days and it could only be assumed that he'd gone out of town or into the mountains. And then. when it was time for the S-class exam, he'd just reappeared, slightly late, but just in time to take the test. Which finished today, which meant that she expected Natsu to be back in her house after his week-long absence, well, not that she knew for sure. She'd gone on a few missions while he was away to collect a little extra rent.

Nevermind that, Lucy thought as she angrily grabbed another one of the plastic cups and filled it with water, forgetting about her milk. If Natsu wasn't going to use them, she might as well use them. She didn't spend 150 jewel for nothing. After she had gotten a drink she climbed back into her bed. He hadn't even bothered to get all the shards cleaned up. She pondered for a while in her bed before she climbed out of her bed, deciding it was better to get it cleaned up while she remembered it. She grabbed her mini cordless hand sweeper and went over the kitchen floors and counters before crawling back in bed.

Once again though, it was too quiet for her to sleep. She went to her bathroom and looked for her small bottle of sleeping pills. She finally found it near the back for some reason. She opened the small bottle but when she finally got it open it was empty. It was most likely the fault of Natsu, he was always leaving empty containers everywhere, it also explained why it was in the back of the cabinet. She trashed the bottle and got her things ready to go out and get a new bottle while she remembered. She hurried to the store, got the new bottle, and rushed back to her house before Natsu made a mess of everything, completely forgetting about his absence. When she got back and opened the door once again, she finally remembered. She tried once again to sleep, but to no avail. She completely forgot about the recently bought pills.

Lucy looked at her clock. It wasn't too late, it was only eleven. The people down by the guild were probably still partying, in fact, that's probably where Natsu was at the moment. She could probably go down there and join in on the fun, at least a little. Plus maybe a little alcohol would help her sleep, especially since she was a little too observant of the Earth around her today. Plus it was sure to be a little louder down at the guild, possibly too much so, but now that she was used to the noise, she would take it over silence any day. Lucy went over and got on her shoes and coat for the second time that night before heading out. She walked to the guild aware that, for the first time in a while, she was walking there alone. She was pretty much lost in her thoughts until she was about a block away from the guild. She realized she could hear everybody already, and, as she had suspected it would be, the guild was in full party mode after the day's events. In fact, by the time she walked in, they were in the middle of a heated battle, they being the careless fools around the guild including Natsu, Gray, Gajeel, and this time, Erza.

She looked around a little, and almost immediately spotted Levy on the other side of the room. She started making her way over to her and the small table she was seated at after calling out a warm greeting. She had only just put a foot in the door, and finished saying hello to Levy before she felt something hard and cold hit her. It only took a few seconds for her to realize she'd been hit by Gray's ice magic, and only a few seconds after to realize that her entire lower body had been frozen. She was just about to ask Gray to unfreeze her when Natsu decided to melt it on his own with his fire dragon's flaming breath.

It wasn't the best decision he'd made, especially considering he could barely control his flames after they left his body and the rest of her was very sensitive to normal fire, much less his. As soon as the deed was done, he just stumbled back into the fight, ignoring her. She would remember to hit Natsu for that one as soon as his dumb little battle was over. No, she decided to brush it off casually in an attempt to be calmer. It was a party after all, and it was an important day for Natsu, even if Igneel wasn't around anymore. Besides, she was sure Lisanna would be nice and understanding towards Natsu, so from now on she would be too, after all, it could have been worse, at least her clothes weren't completely destroyed. She continued to make her way toward Levy putting a smile on her face once again.

Suddenly she felt little iron pellets, or rather bolts of some kind, hitting her from Gajeels direction. Didn't they understand her want, and some what need, to not get hurt for once. On a mission, fine, mistakes happen, injuries occur, but really, in her own guild, and even her own home the better part of the time,just... really? She was just about to gather up her friends that weren't in battle, to help her stop it when Erza's sword and Gray's Ice cannon combo aimed for Natsu hit her as he eluded it and she was knocked out cold, literally cold. The last thing she could remember about the night was wanting a blanket.


	2. The Last Straw

**See, it's already been the second chapter in one day. So far I've been holding true to my promise, right? Also, it's somewhat important that you try to reread a lot of these new chapters because some of the new stuff I'm adding is going to be important for later on. Try to see if you can catch the foreshadowing. As always though, please enjoy my work, with Mashima's character's that I don't own as I said previously, and please try to enjoy my interpretation of Fairy Tail, as terrible and corny as it may be. ~mathmaddy**

Chapter 2

It wasn't until Levy had leaned over the blond-haired mage curiously that Lucy woke up. For a second, she had forgotten the previous night's events and had wondered how the mage had even gotten into her house before remembering that everybody could. Apparently, Mira had made a key and willingly passed it out to everyone who asked, or so somebody had said. Wait, what? Was that true? Her groggy mind really wasn't ready to keep up with her current racing thoughts. Why did Mira have a copy of her key in the first place? Had Lucy given it to her? If so, why had she even wanted a copy of her key? When did she copy it? Was that how people kept getting into her house? Why did she even think Mira had a copy, or rather had copies by the way this was sounding? Had she told Lucy she had one? When? Was she just imagining this or what? Was that actually true? Yep, thought Lucy, definitely not quite ready to keep up. She wiped her eyes groggily and made a mental note to get those things sorted out later. They might be an important lead to why everybody was always in her house whenever they wanted to be. When she reopened her eyes, the first thing she noticed was the vast amount of light pouring through her windows.

Based on how bright it was, it was probably close to noon, if only maybe a little before or after, she thought. She couldn't believe she had slept in so late. It wasn't often that she even slept until 10:00 much less noon. She must have been pretty tired, she decided. After letting her eyes adjust to the bright, streaming light, she realized she wasn't in her apartment at all, but rather in the some strange, wooden room, seemingly a part part of the guild. Most likely the small infirmary near the back, she concluded after thinking a bit. Once she was feeling better and used to the new amount of light, in the room, Levy started to help her recall the previous night's events, and after a while, she helped her when she decided to sit up. Lucy tried to pay attention the best she could, after all, she didn't remember much about how she'd gotten there or why she'd come, things she'd probably forgotten after she had been knocked out, Levy explained. Although she was able to hear Levy's words, Lucy was only able to pay half her attention towards the blue-haired mage speaking due to the fact that she could hear them fighting in the background again. Them being all the previous nights offenders, excluding Erza of course.

Erza was a surprisingly feminine, innocent, childish, and apologetic, even kind, mage despite her reputation for being a ruthless monster. So it was Erza, and only her, obviously, who still felt terrible about the previous night's events where Lucy had been a casualty. There was only one problem with that statement, Lucy had been out for three whole days, not just one night. She sighed angrily after hearing this and assured Levy that no permanent damage was inflicted upon her before leaving her bed despite her small friend's proteststs. Lucy began to get restless after hearing that, after all, her rent was due in less than a week, and she had no time to spare if she hoped to make it in time. So, after reassuring her about a hundred times and begging her friend to let her leave the small clinic, Levy agreed under the condition she take it easy for a while. Lucy agreed, though she may have stretched the truth a little. After all, taking it easy was more of an opinionated thing, right? Besides, this was Fairy Tail, even if she wanted to "take it easy" it wasn't likely to actually happen, that much was clear from last night, or three nights ago, or whatever you wanted to call it.

When Lucy was finally oficially released, her and Levy went out to sit at the main part of the guild, the bar, to talk some, carrying out Lucy's ruined plans from a few nights ago. The guild's environment was very comfortable and there they could talk easily, have some food and drinks, and just relax, after all, it wasn't often that many people fought at the bar, considering most of them were too drunk to even realize what was going on. The other two reasons for the chosen location were because a, she honestly didn't trust her old seat in the middle of the guild anymore since it was alwyas being destroyed by Natsu and whomever he was fighting, and b, because Erza was currently moping at the bar, drowning her worries in a huge mug of alchohol. Lucy decided she had better approach the mage before anything else too drastic happened. Besides, she could tell from a hundred meters away the red-haired mage was upset and it wasn't often that someone saw her this way. That added with the fact that she barely ever actually got in a fight made it pretty easy for Lucy to forgive her. Yesterday's, or rather three days ago's, occurrence had been quite rare, if not at least for the pure destructiveness that was caused. Besides, everybody had been in high spirits, well, not that they ever weren't.

Lucy walked over to the seat next to Erza at the bar, making herself a sandwich between Erza and Levy. As soon as she sat in the seat, she thought about the best way to bring up the topic. She couldn't just outright say it, or Erza would probably get up and leave, too embarrassed or upset to talk about it. it was another one of Erza's habits, Lucy had noticed, to run away from her personal problems, albeit a fairly childish one. Anyway, she didn't want to depress the mage more. She sat there for a while, ordering food and having a quick chat with Mira, getting a little bit flustered as she was prone to do with Mira before she finally turned towards Erza. Luckily for her, as soon as she turned towards the Scarlet-haired mage, Erza took the initiative and brought up the subject for her.

"I'm so sorry, Lucy. It's all my fault that you got hurt, ummmm, you can hit me if you want…" That was a typical Erza for you, Lucy thought, always apologizing quickly and meaningfully unlike a certain flame breathed mage she knew. "No it's fine Eza, it's not like you start the fights, you only join in after trying to keep people safe from their stray magic, so its really not your fault. You don't need to worry, I'm barely hurt at all. Besides, I'm just fine now." Lucy was very confident in her reply. In fact, Erza's face brightened just at that. "In the future, it might be safer to take the battle outside to some empty field though." Lucy decided the last idea as a gentle suggestion to help Erza gather a few suggestions to prevent it from happening again, after all, if anyone was likely to listen to her suggestions, it was Erza. As she had suspected the mage would, Erza nodded as if she was taking mental notes, which she probably was. Just then one of Gajeel's iron poles he was fighting with just slipped past Lucy's cheek brushing against it slightly before pulling back to fire again. Lucy stood up angrily, she had, well, had it. With all of those fools.

Her eyes got smaller as they squinted and she stomped over to the five boys who had been creating a ruckus all morning. Among them only Natsu and Gray recognised this one of Lucy's faces; her face of true anger, in it's purest form. Of course, Natsu was the only one to shrink back as Gray was only shaking, the difference was probably in experience seeing as the one time Gray had seen it, he'd been pulled back by Natsu before making the mistake of angering her further. Natsu, however, hadn't been so lucky or smart and was forced to learn the terror of calm, angry Lucy the hard way. You could tell it had worked too, judging by the fear on his face. "What's the big deal?" Laxus jeered, "It's only Lucy, she's not even that powerful, right?" "Yeah" smirked Gajeel, "It's not like she could do anything to harm _us_." Gajeel acted as though he was all high and mighty but frankly, Lucy had never been afraid of him, not even when she was powerless before him. "Yeah. Stop acting like a baby Natsu, did you forget that your S-class now?" the snide remarks from Gajeel and Laxus continued in a seemingly endless banter and jeer until Elfman gained enough confidence and thought and interrupted them. "Yeah, you should stand up to your enemies Like A Man! because if you don't…" Elfman trailed off as Lucy stepped closer and narrowed her eyes further. Her anger and impatience with them was growing by the second as her body screamed for vengeance more and more.

Normally, Lucy would need her friends to overtake all of these guys, after all, she wasn't normally all too powerful, especially compared to them, but this time, she knew she could take them alone. Ever since the battle on tenroujima, no, before even then, ever since she'd battled Angel and used that one magic Hibiki had showed her, her body had reacted differently when she was in danger. Her magic power surged through her body and she could feel some strange power deep within herself. It was almost like she was a new, more powerful version of herself. The only thing was, once she was in it she was practically a different person, one who wouldn't take shit from anybody, and her body was out of her control.

"I-I-I'm so sorry L-Lucy" stammered Natsu, "I-I p-promise I w-won't d-do it again…" "Sorry, but it's a little late for that Natsu, I'm afraid if you don't endure this, you'll never learn." Lucy's snide remark flowed out of her mouth like water flowing down a river even though it wasn't something she'd normally say. Oh well, she knew Natsu's promises only lasted a day, if that. "Why should we be scared of some puny girl mage who's not even good enough to make S-class?" Gajeel taunted. "Oh?" said Lucy, "Would you like your explanation to be verbal or...physical? Well, because it's your first time seeing me like this, I guess it would only be fair to take it easy on you, after all, stupid bugs really are pitiful creatures." Lucy smirked once more before continuing with her explanation. "You see, no matter how much power I possess, it doesn't change the fact that this body is weak, and so difficult to protect, afterall, it is a woman's job to be desireable, but here you all come and start to wreck it. Honestly, what's a poor girl like me supposed to do?" Lucy faked a few tears before looking up again. "So, I was injured right? I'm pretty forgiving, I can let it slide by once, but twice? You overestimate my kindness. Yet here I find you, fighting again and putting my precious body in peril even though I just got better. Honestly..."

By the time Lucy was done with her recounting of events, you could practically hear the dark and angry tones under her voice, though she never truly lost her calm. "N-now you've made her even m-more m-mad at us." Natsu was almost crying. Gajeel, however, just snuffed, he wasn't so convinced of her power just yet. "So, since you're not scared of me Gajeel, how about I go ahead and show you that physical demonstration. I'll have my revenge on you first, although I really was hoping it wouldn't come to this point, after all, it's not very lady like to fight, wouldn't you agree? I suppose it was your attack that almost hit me….again." Lucy practically hissed the last part and you could almost feel the seething anger coming from her. "W-wait, if t-this is all G-G-Gajeels f-fault th-then why do I have to g-get punished?" Natsu interjected, whining. "Because you started it," Lucy snapped at him angrily, the only sign of discomposure.

At this point Lucy was so mad that it only took one clean punch for her to knock Gajeel to his feet, and another two kicks to put him down for the count for a while. Just to prove a point, she hauled his over-sized body over her shoulder and threw him out the door and into the empty lot just before the guild, shouting for him to fight out there next time just to make a point. At this point, everyone in the guild stood in awe of Lucy, never before had they seen her this angry, or this powerful. Suddenly, it was as if Lucy could take down the whole guild if she pleased, and defeating Laxus and the others no longer seemed like an impossible feat for her. All traces of her usual kind self were replaced with a feeling of raw power and anger as she let loose on the poor and unsuspecting boys who had caused her so much trouble lately.

She continued down the line to Laxus who hid his fear by saying he was stronger than Gajeel. Indeed he was, but he still stood no chance against this side of Lucy. Once again, she took him down cleanly and thoroughly without the use of magic. It seemed as if this side of Lucy was also proficient in the martial arts, though Lucy herself wasn't too shabby when it came to hand to hand combat. Still, she was nothing like the master this side of herself was. Why should she have to waste her magic on him? it would be a waste of effort, especially when she could manage without it. Besides, it would leave them in even more fear to know she hadn't even used magic yet. Yes, fear, it seemed that would be the only real way to ever control them and keep this from happening, though it wouldn't be long before one of them tried to approach her again. Still, it did but her some time, and for that she would be greatful. Once again, she threw his body outside, landing his directly on top of Gajeel's unconcious one, leaving it there to sit until one of them woke up.

She decided to go easy on Elfman, after all, it wasn't directly his fault he was just involved in the fights. Plus she was still terrified of Mira after all she was really powerful, not to mention the fact that she and Mira were friends and she didn't exactly want to ruin that any time soon. So instead, she mostly just gave Elfman a few beatings and pushed him out the door to reflect on his actions and to wait until everyone else woke up out there. When they did, he was to make sure they stayed outside and everyone was awake when he would deliver thae message that fights would no longer be tolerated inside the guild, they would have to be taken elsewhere. Failure to comply would be punishable by Lucy. She doubted they would even dare fight verbally in the guild after a warning like that. After all, she had just completely annihalated them without even using her now abundant magic energy.

After Elfman came Gray's turn. She had to admit Gray was prepared, however at this point, his ice magic couldn't even come close to reaching her or her feelings. She didn't even have to use magic to shatter his ice make magic and get to him. As much as he could try, he was helpless against her, but maybe if he was smart he wouldn't find himself in the same situation again she couldn't go easy on him either, otherwise people would think she was getting weaker, which she most definately was not, she had decided to go easy on Elfman out of kindness for a friend. She did still have kindness after all, even though Lucy had slowly gathered more and more anger as she swept down the line of people. She took them down like a toddler might squash ants; getting rid of one after the other without hesitation. Elfman was the one who managed to get away with minor injuries. It was fine though, as lond as he'd gotten the message. She didn't care how long it took, she would drag them all down to hell if they wronged her. In comparison, thir feelings were weak and it was because of this that she easily broke through their defences and gave them thorough beatings, for their defiance and just a little more for good measure. None of their beatings, however, compared to the one Natsu got.

After all he had a lot to pay for. Lucy punched him once for each thing he had done, slowly becoming more and more of herself.. "You break into my house daily, invade my personal privacy, make a giant mess of my things, break my glasses, spill grape juice all over _my_ bed spread, leave without a proper apology, and when I finally come to the guild you've started a fight and I get hurt, you even blew me off for your cat, and after all of that, do you even think to apologize? No!" Lucy ran out of the guild crying, leaving the guys to wonder what the barely conscious Natsu had done to subdue her and the girls to wonder what Natsu _hadn't_ done to leave her in tears. The girls were, after all, a little more perceptive than the guys, and they definitely understood the workings of a woman's heart and mind better. As for Natsu, well, he just sat there, left to wonder why his beating was so much worse than everyone else's, why he was still conscious, and why Lucy was crying. And for some reason, the fact that Lucy was crying hurt more than the pain from getting beat up, and he didn't even know why.


	3. Awkward

**Ok, chapter three! I'm on a roll and I haven't broken my promise yet! This chapter is looking better than ever and as I'm always saying, I don't own Fairy Tail or the characters, I'm ust a fan. Which is why this is called FANfiction, but yeah. As always please enjoy! ~mathmaddy**

Chapter 3

Natsu just layed there, staring blankly at the ceiling trying to wrap his head around what had just happened. The rest of the guild stood in silent awe of what they had just witnessed. Everybody was amazed by either Lucy, who managed to beat up all four dragon-slayers and Elf-man, or by Natsu, who had somehow, inexplicably, managed to send the blond mage away, crying. The silence seemed to last forever, turning from natural, to awkward as everyone had realized the silence, and didn't want to break it. Finally, the awkward hall devoid of noise was once again filled with sound as Happy came back from his fishing trip and offered the fish he caught to Charla(I don't really know how to spell her name). Everybody in the guild always knew that he was an idiot, but this was a whole different level, not only had he not noticed the silence, but the five boy mages who were completely beat up still lying defeated on the ground, either outside the guild or inside.

The guild was so shocked at this point that not much was really talked about. Nobody could really say anything other than a few small words, but that seemed to be enough for the time being. Soon enough, large crowds of people were formed to discuss the day's seemingly larger than life events. Never before had anyone seen Lucy with that much power and the entire mood and feel from around her had changed. They wondered if something was going on inside Lucy as she beat them up, because it was almost like she was a completely different person. And that's exactly what she was, an unstoppable person that even she couldn't control.

It seemed that Happy was the only one who didn't care exactly what was going on, because he approached Charla as if it was any ordinary day. After Charla had told him she didn't want his fish he wanted Lucy to comfort him. "Lushee!" he yelled, "What do I do?" The blue cat was so wrapped up in his troubles that it wasn't until then that he he had realised Lucy wasn't there. " Huh? Where's Lucy?" he said blankly, "I saw her here this morning." Happy decided to ask Natsu, he always knew where Lucy was. "Natsuuu!" screamed Happy.

The blue cat flew around the guild in his search for him comrade. After a while of flying in circles, he finally came across his half-conscious comrade. "Who did this to you Natsu?" mourned the blue haired cat dramatically. "It was...L-Lucy" the pink haired mage spluttered. After that he just meaningfully looked up at Happy for a few seconds before finally giving in to the darkness that lie ahead of him. Happy, it appeared, had totally misread the situation however, because next he started to shake Natsu furiously. "Don't die!" Happy whined while tears ran down his face.

It seemed someone would have to correct the poor cat before Natsu died for real. It was Panther-lily, Happy's former exceed pal, who first elected to tell the mistaken cat the truth. Lily just slid off of his high barstool where he had been holding quite a pleasant conversation with Levy before all of this ruckus was started. Panther-lily made his way over to happy before he bluntly said to the poor and confused cat, "He's not dead, he just passed out." The blue cat just dropped Natsu's pink head bluntly after hearing this new news as he continued his search for Lucy.

He decided to look for Lucy at her apartment, it was a pretty good guess as to where she was when she wasn't at the guild. Normally, Happy would never go over there without Natsu, but the pink-haired mage, it seemed, was in no mood to go over to her house, as strange as the idea seemed. After all, Natsu loved Lucy's house and he always wanted to be there, so he thought that after nearly a week of not seeing her at all Natsu would want to go. Happy however, must have been mistaken, because even though Natsu really couldn't sleep without Lucy, he had denied himself the pleasure of going over to her house at all, and had spent most of his nights holed up in his own bedroom, struggling to find sleep.

When Happy found her, Lucy was crying in her bedroom with her face in the corner covered by her hands. "Lushee, what's wrong?" the confused cat asked, the entire day had been strange for him, ever since he left to go fishing. Natsu hadn't been himself and looked like he was suffering from insomnia, he was passed out on the floor when he'd gotten back to the guild, nobody was talking loudly, Lucy was crying here, and even Cana hadn't been drunk at noon. It was almost like it was the perfect scene out of Edolas, well, but everybody still dressed the same. So this time, Happy was determined to get a straight answer as to what exactly had happened while he was gone.

After Happy questioned her, Lucy rushed to make up an excuse. "I was just writing a letter to my mom when…well..." Lucy trailed off, sniffling, knowing it would be enough to edge the cat away from the subject, at least for a while. "Oh" the cat replied, making sure to try to show his sympathies for what had happened. "Oh! I remembered what I wanted to ask you!" the cat shouted enthusiastically. "Did you forget?" asked the puzzled mage, after all, Happy and her hadn't really had any contact in a week and he'd never mentioned anything like this to her. "Why?" the cat asked. "Why what?" said Lucy, even more confused than she had been a few seconds ago.

Honestly, Happy could be talking about any number of things that had happened in the past, well, since she'd met him. He always had a way of bringing up things that happened months, even years, ago. It was anybody's guess as to what he was talking about, but the most likely subject probably had to do with Natsu, his life-long companion. And somebody she would prefer not to talk about right now. Unfortunately, she couldn't just come out and say that. "Why'd you beat up Natsu?" the blue cat asked like it was obvious. Now this, this she could do. She'd had a very simple reason for her actions and ones that she certainly felt were justifiable. "He and his little buddies over there almost knocked me out again, maybe next time they'll fight somewhere abandoned like they should" she retorted. "Aye sir" replied the blue cat.

Although she had found the catchphrase extremely annoying at first, well, even a little after that, she now found that the catchphrase seemed to make her feel at ease. She had been worried knowing Natsu and Happy hadn't been to her house for a while, especially because she was worried about what that would make her in Fairy Tail and even just to them, but hearing Happy's dumb catchphrase set her mind at ease. Nothing had really changed, at least not too drastically since Natsu had become S-Class. After all, he had contained the power to become S-Class before he'd actually taken the test, she supposed. Besides, it was probably just a coincidence that they hadn't talked much, I mean, they hadn't exactly really been remotely near each other until today.

After a lot of pleading from Happy, Lucy finally decided to go back to the guild, she needed a job if she was going to pay her rent anyway, she finally decided. When Lucy walked into the guild the first thing she noticed was that the five perpetrators had woken up and were now sitting at the few undestroyed tables in the guild. Everyone in the guild seemed to be staring at her, as if they wanted to see what she would do next. Unfortunately for them, however, Lucy was in no mood to put on another show, she'd had enough of those boys to last her a whole lifetime, not to mention she'd had her fill for today.

The second thing she noticed was that everybody seemed to be avoiding her, especially the dragonslayers in question. Luckily, Gray hadn't seemed to be as stricken with fear so she could still talk to him. At least that's what she'd thought, when she talked to him, however, she could sense him trying to handle her with caution and she thought she even saw him quiver once. Nevertheless, she still decided to call out to them, after all, with the guild like this she really didn't feel comfortable talking to anyone else. Besides, Erza was there too.

"Hey Erza, Hey Gray," the once again cheery mage called. The two said mages looked up at her almost immediately, responding to the sound of her voice. Erza immediately flashed her a smile and waved her over to the seat next to her, but it was only a second after she'd sat down that Gray interrupted their lively conversation. "Well," Gray said awkwardly, "I think Natsu wanted to tell you something,so... you should probably see him first."

Nothing about Gray's statement seemed to add up, Natsu knew exactly where to find her when he needed her, plus since when had he needed to talk to her. She'd been free all morning and he hadn't payed any attention to her since, well, she'd beaten him up. Lucy, however, ignored the strange statement and walked away, perhaps he was still a little too awkward around Lucy. Or maybe now Natsu hated her and her worst fear had come true. Without Natsu, she was a nothing with no real place or friends in the guild. No, that couldn't be true, she'd made real friends while she was here, right? No, there was just something wrong with the guild today, everyone was acting really strangely.

With her confidence back up slightly, she headed towards Natsu, who was in his usual seat as always. "So, I heard you needed to talk to me." she said. Natsu looked up at her, smiling briefly before it turned into something of a pained frown. His head fell back down on the tabled and it looked like he was at war with himself as he sat thinking for a moment before finally making his decision. With the pained look once again on his face, he gestured for her to sit in the seat across from himself. He had to do this, or else, well, he just had to. It would be what was best for Lucy.

"Lucy," he said, as soon as she'd taken her seat, and for once even she could tell he was serious, "I'm S-class now." Lucy didn't like the direction this conversation was heading, but she couldn't run away from it now. "Yeaahhh, and?" she asked, trying to play clueless. Just because he was S-class, that didn't make her any different. Why did everything need to change so quickly. She wasn't totally understanding his point, but she knew exactly what was happening at the same time. She just wanted to run away from it all. If she'd known it would turn out like this, she would've just gone with her father, or maybe never even left in the first place. She never would've wanted to meet Natsu in the first place. It wasn't fair, didn't he realize, well, didn't he realize that he'd made her fall in love with him?! Lucy's thoughts screamed for her to run from it all, to run from everything, but she was just frozen there in place, left to listen to everything.

"Well, now the team is doing harder missions and, well, I don't think you can be, I mean, I don't want you to be part of the team anymore." He blurted the last part out bluntly, trying to get it over with as quickly as possible. After he was done saying what he needed to, he turned around. He knew how much this would hurt Lucy, which was the last thing he really wanted to do but, if she was with him, she would only get more hurt. After all, for all the big talk they boast about being insightful, Lucy never really did realize that she'd made him fall deeply in love with her. Everything about her, and he knew that if he saw her face he knew he would give in to her. It wasn't until she had walked away and sat at the bar that he turned back to face the table.

Still, he couldn't help but feel a twang of guilt as she tried to hold back her tears as she left. "Of course!" she'd exclaimed. "I knew this day would come eventually, after all, not everybody can handle S-class missions, and you'll probably be doing a lot of those now. Besides, it's not like...it's not like we were ever going to be partners forever, you just happened to help me find my way here and then I tagged along with everything you did." As soon as she was done, she went over to the bar where Mira was and laid her head down on the smooth wood and Natsu knew she was crying.

The worst part about it was probably the way Lucy made it sound like it was all her fault. As if it was her fault for not being powerful enough to fight at the S-class level even though she'd done it with him before. Like she had been burdening him all this time when he was the one who had always been burdening her and getting her into trouble. Even the first day, when they'd met, there was something that he'd instantly loved about Lucy, but he knew someone like her could never fall for a guy like him. She was always complaining about him, and whenever she went on one of those stupid blind dates she went out with mature guys who fit her background, not with guys like him. He almost wished he hadn't done what he just had. Dismayed and trying to cope with the weight of how he just made her feel, Natsu too, lowered his head to the table.

It wasn't until he realized Gray and Erza were now at his table, in the two seats adjacent to his own, leaving Lucy's normal seat completely open that he looked up. Erza seemed confused as to what the situation was as she pointed and asked why Lucy had just given Mira her first solo mission to get stamped. Natsu unconsciously tried to turn around in his seat despite his minds protests, but luckily the blond mage was out the door before his body was fully turned. Thankful for his luck, Natsu turned back around and looked towards Gray. "I said it" he told Gray. "She's not on the team anymore." Natsu forced the words out as he silently added, she'll be safe now. "Why?" Erza was confused by the entire situation since she had missed his whole explanation to Gray, but right now he wasn't in any mood to explain. As if asking for permission to tell the scarlet-haired mage, Gray looked at him, but Natsu just shook his head before adding a few words. "I can't tell you." he said, "You're too close to her, the whole plan would be ruined. Plus..." he added, glancing around and eyeing Mira," You're too close to Mira, and I definately don't trust her. "Oh," said the female mage, trying to understand.


	4. Solo Mission

Lucy huffed angrily as she rode the train to her first solo mission. She still couldn't believe that Natsu had kicked her off the team! She'd been on his team ever since she joined Fairy Tail, and it wasn't like it'd been her idea to team up with him in the first place. He just used her for a mission and after that things just started to happen. She would hang out with him more and more and, well, she thought that they had become good friends, maybe even more than that. After all, as hopeless of an idiot Natsu was, she couldn't help but admit to herself that she'd had, no, still had, feelings for the pink haired goof.

She realized that a while ago, just before they went to edolas, but ever since Lisanna had come back she hadn't found a good time to bring it up. She knew Lisanna and Natsu had had a thing as children and well, who was she to break that apart, especially since there was certainly no guarantee that Natsu reciprocated her feelings. Maybe though, maybe if she'd had enough courage to tell him how she felt, things wouldn't have turned out like this. She wouldn't be in a train car by herself feeling lonely and pathetic and she'd be walking somewhere remote with Natsu and Happy since they refused to take any form of transportation.

Maybe though, they were never meant to be together. After all, it was just a coincidence that they had met in the middle of the gathering centered around that phony Salamander. He probably wouldn't have even been there to save her and wreck the port if she hadn't insisted on buying lunch for him. Heck she probably wouldn't have even been in Fairy Tail, she would probably be a sex slave for some creep she was sold to. The more she thought about her meeting Natsu, joining Fairy Tail, everything really, the more lost and lonely she felt.

She was always really alone, wasn't she? All of the companionship she'd felt, it was all fake, it had to have been. After all, she'd just barely met all of them, and she barely knew anything about any of them. And the one she knew the most about, the one closest and dearest to her, had just told her she wasn't good enough. Her whole life had come crashing down around her, not surprisingly. Perhaps this was karma for all of those years of running away from her problems, or for not having an honest start to her dream. Maybe it was karma for being selfish and wanting to stay in Fairy Tail, even though she brought trouble and misfortune to everybody there, and for wanting to stay there and to be with Natsu even though she definitely couldn't, even though he didn't want her there. For relying on everybody else far too much because she didn't have the courage it took to face her problems and fears alone.

Maybe if she'd been more courageous she could have gotten a fresh start at Fairy Tail and she would have been able to reinvent herself as a stronger person. She was so weak though. She was too afraid to face the rejection of not getting into Fairy Tail so she had relied on Natsu to get her in and to take her there. And now, well, now she was alone. She'd ended up the same old Lucy as always, relying on people. She hadn't really gotten the chance to form the bonds of real friendship, she just met all of the people close to Natsu. She'd forced strength upon herself and forged a fake identity based on the assumption that she was strong enough to be on Natsu's team when that wasn't who she was.

Until now, she had always considered herself to be pretty well off in life and in the guild in general. She wasn't that strong but she could still help out and she managed to defeat her enemies. It wasn't until she'd been kicked off of the team that she realized all of her power was forced, it was fake. She'd gotten lots of the zodiac keys, but she'd never really unlocked all of their secrets, there was still so much that was unknown to her. She had pretended to be powerful, and through luck she had succeeded, even though she had no real power of her own. Everything she'd managed to do, every feat she had accomplished, it was all thanks to Natsu or her spirits. Besides just the other day when she had beaten him up the strength wasn't truly her own. She hadn't truly been herself. Besides he didn't even use his magic.

Lucy was spared any further investigation or thought into the matter at hand as she realized this was her stop. It was probably just as well because she didn't think she could spend much more time on the train. Maybe it was just her imagination, or even just a coincidence because she'd been thinking about Natsu, but while she was riding the train she had felt a little queasy. Perhaps the train was something one needed to get used to and she was too far out of practice? She brushed it off however, it was likely nothing that couldn't be solved by a little more practice. Besides, it was a beautiful day, walking in the fresh air outside and a little exercise would be good for her. Besides, if it came down to it she could ask Wendy to help her out a little. Therefore, satisfied for the time being, or at least as satisfied as she could be, she got off of the metal vehicle and sautered up the hill to the mansion that lay on top.

The mansion was huge, almost as big as the main Heartfilia manor. Seeing its size brought up a few memories of her childhood, especially when she got to the large, groomed yard where she could practically see herself playing as a child. She smiled at the fond memories before her mind brought up darker ones. Lucy's life at the Heartfilia manor, as perfect as it should have been, was quite far from just that. Even her childhood had been riddled with misfortune and misery. There had been a reason, after all, that she had run away from such a life in the first place. She had mostly been wandering around aimlessly, searching for power, when she'd found Natsu, or rather, he'd found her. After that, well, she really felt like she'd stopped wandering, she felt like she'd never run away in the first place, she was home. Fairy Tail had become her home. Or at least it had been back then, now she wasn't so sure.

Seeing the manor here almost seemed like some sort of symbolism. Now that Natsu had thrown her off of the team, she was back to old, wandering Lucy, with no real place to go or call home. She was old Lucy all by herself, on her own, and there was nothing she could do to change that. Back then, just before finding Natsu, she was really considering going back home. She had her pride and all, but being on her own was incredibly lonely, and her days were filled with almost as much misery as they had been before. In fact, if it hadn't been for her pride, she probably would've gone back much sooner. Hell, if she had never met Natsu, she would even have gone back with no questions asked at the whole phantom lord incident, although she supposed she really wouldn't have had another choice then, not that she'd wanted to go home. Somehow though, that's exactly what this felt like. She was poor, pitiful Lucy; downtrod and disgracefully returning back home after she'd failed.

It took her a moment before she was able to enter the mansion, but once she did, she was filled with relief. The interior was much different than the old Heartfilia mansion used to be. It almost had a look of fake decadence to it, but Lucy ignored such thoughts as the butler asked her to what they owed such a pleasure. She quickly stated that she was the one who had accepted the mission, and after a look of skepticism, he led her into a more formal sitting room where the owner of the mansion was lounging. The particular piece of furniture he was lounging on was a loveseat made of a fake gold silk fabric, and she felt he seemed entirely in his own place what with his crazy attire. Instead, she just held her tongue and sat on the edge of a small chair by the edge of the room despite the man's invitations for her to sit at his side.

Lucy was taken aback by the creep, and that was part of the reason she was currently sitting on the edge of her seat. The other reason was because she was particularly eager to get outside and on the mission. She wasn't quite used to sitting for this long since Natsu was so blunt, and she certainly wasn't used to getting hit on by her employers. After all, this guy must've been at least ten years older than her! Not to mention the fact that she was still too young to even drink, well, at least technically. If Natsu were here, none of this would've ever happened. And if it did, well, the guy would be lucky if he didn't have to be sent to the hospital and his house was still standing. After all, Natsu had always been really protective of her, she loved that about him, and she assumed he had done it out of love. Apparently, he hadn't, it was just standard courtesy or something, maybe he was just protecting his partner, or ridding the world of one more creep. It was wrong of her to read into it further.

Lucy, jumped out of her seat the moment she heard the man stopped talking. The job she had taken required her to retrieve a stolen item from a group of three bandits. They had stolen the said artifact while it was being delivered to the mansion on a train. Somehow, the story seemed oddly familiar, and now as she was walking she realized why. An incident like this had occurred before the whole tenroujima incident, before the whole Natsu incident. Now that she thought about it, Lucy had a feeling she knew exactly who the bandits were. They were likely a group of weaklings who relied on their power of farting at supreme intensities to help them steal that they'd met a few years ago. They were incredibly weak, and even a simple mage could defeat them as long as they were smart enough. Lucy could easily do the job by herself, no Natsu needed. It would be a piece of cake and certainly not at the price that the requestor was offering, it seemed despite all the bad things that'd happened, Lucy had had just a bit of luck come her way. However it seemed the requester didn't know the actual power of the thieves because he was offering 100,000 for it. Either that or whatever he had was seriously important.

Lucy couldn't be certain though as she was half asleep while asking her questions. "where were they last seen?" she'd asked. Near the river, great. "Did they seem to possess any magical powers?" No? Great. It had seemed like forever before Lucy had finally finished all of her questions. It had been a totally different atmosphere from when she was yelling at Natsu for being too loud. This time it was quiet and strictly professional, and honestly, she missed the old rowdy meetings that she used to have back with the old teams. Lucy walked out of the mansion and headed to the cliff, happy to finally get some fresh air away from the stuffy mansion. She soon found the river in question, and was able to reach it by foot in less than an hour. After she gotten to the river at the bottom of the valley, all she had to do was follow the very obvious separate pair of tracks to catch the thieves. By the time Lucy had gotten through most of the tracks, it was about two hours past noon. Lucy decided to finish up quickly and get Lunch or whatever you could call it at that point.

After what had seemed like hours, Lucy had finally gotten to the end of the new tracks where she met the jiggle butt gang as they called themselves. She made quick work and had quickly beaten up two of them when the leader decided to make a comment. "I've seen you before! You were with the flame devil and with our air goddess! So, where are they now?" Lucy did not want to talk about this. Her wounds were still fresh about getting kicked off of the team and she didn't really feel like explaining why. She couldn't believe she was already getting questioned about this. Somewhere inside of her, anger stirred and her separate personality was brought to light. "They. Kicked. Me. Off. The. Team! Lucy shouted, and she could swear she could hear her words echo as the combined into each other, bouncing off of the valley walls. All of her anger was finally let loose as she threw the leader onto his other two minions before taking the item and leaving. At least now, without Natsu to mess anything up, she would get all of her pay, she thought bitterly.

Lucy had forgotten all about the old team as she walked into the guild. Well, not forgotten, but she'd gotten over them, she didn't need them anyway, so they were as good as gone the way she figured. She decided that she could do fine by herself. In fact, maybe even more so than with them, after all, she had gotten the rent money she had needed, and for once she had enough to spare. Maybe this is what it was like to be anybody else in Fairy Tail. Maybe this was what it was like to live in financial security. She was happy, and since she figured she finally had enough money to spare, she sat down at the bar counter. "Hey Mira," she called "Can I get a milkshake?" "Coming right up," cheered the white-haired mage. It was Lucy, after all, aka: her favorite person to tease.

Mira could barely contain her excitement as Lucy slipped into one of the bar stools. She had been worried about Lucy after all. I mean, it wasn't like her to go on a mission without her team, or even without Natsu, not to mention the fact that Lucy had looked so sad, even depressed at the time. Now, however, Lucy wore a bright smile one her face and she looked as if she'd never had a care in the world as she slipped into the stool. Mira was glad her friend seemed to have found happiness, even if it was momentary. She called out a cheery reply as the blond mage asked for a milkshake and she rushed into the back of the shop to create the drink for her friend. After all, even Lucy deserved to be able to indulge herself in something like this once in a while, and Mira was glad she was finally allowing herself to.

Although, before she gave the cold drink to her, she wanted to have a little fun first. After all, Lucy was probably one of the most innocent people in the guild, in a cute kind of way. I mean, she knew about stuff, but whenever Mira tried to talk about it, even the soft stuff like kissing, Lucy would get really flustered. This also made Lucy one of the most fun people to tease in the guild however, at least that's what Mira, and a few other people, thought. Besides, now that the mage was feeling a lot better, she couldn't resist, I mean, what kind of harm could it really do to play around just a little? Besides, Lucy was _really_ happy. Like, happier than Mira had seen her in a while, not that Lucy hadn't been happy before she was sad, today she just seemed special. And if Mira knew one thing about dating and guys, it was that they evoked this special feeling in women. Especially really cute and deserving women who underestimated their own self worth like Lucy.

Now that Mira thought of it, lately Lucy had been really stressed about her and Natsu's relationship. After all, she said she'd realized that she really liked Natsu but she didn't know if he felt the same way. It'd been bothering her for a while and she'd been doing her best to try to seduce Natsu but none of it had seemed like it was working. In fact, that was one of the reasons Lucy hadn't had a milkshake in a while; she'd been trying to watch her figure. Now that she thought about it, the scene the other day where Lucy had beat up Natsu had set up the perfect scenario for a confession too! In fact, the other day Gray had even said that Natsu needed to talk to her. She was almost certain one of her favorite ships was finally coming to life as she set down the milkshake. I mean, how else could Lucy be so happy?

"Be careful, have to many of these and you'll lose that perfect figure that Natsu confessed to. You have to tell me all about it." she teased. Instead of getting the cute, embarrassed reaction out of Lucy that she had expected, all Mira had gotten was silence. "Come on, you can't hide it from me, he needed to talk to you earlier today, privately," se hinted. Now, Lucy lost the smile she'd had on just moments prior, "Actually, he needed to tell me I'm off of the team. I-I've decided to give up on him. It's clear that I don't mean anything special to him, and there are plenty of people who I'm sure I could grow fond of." Lucy buried her head into her arms and on the bar counter as she cried. Mira could do nothing but stare in horror at what she'd just done. She'd made one of her best friends cry, and she felt terrible. She should've known that when Lucy was hurt most was also when she smiled the most, she'd seen it many times. And now, she'd just failed at being a good friend. Mira just made her way to the back room and focused on her job, comforting Lucy when she had the time and occasionally refilling her drinks, wishing she could do something more for her friend.


	5. A Hurt Lucy

**You guys should know by now but I don't own Fairy Tail, or any other manga/anime for that matter.**

"So Lucy," the white-haired mage started as she handed her the milkshake, "How's your love life?" "Um, same as always mira, non existent." This time however it was not accompanied by the usual blush. Mira didn't think much of it, she probably found a way to hide it. "Come on," she cooed, "You can tell me." It was then that she realised something was wrong. Lucy's smile turned into a frown and she could tell the mage was not happy. "Fine, Mira. You want to know so bad, I'll tell you." Just then Erza had walked in and interrupted their conversation. "So Lucy, I heard you did you're first solo mission," she said it casually. "So, how'd it go?" "It went well actually." Lucy brightened up at the new topic. "For the first time nothing got damaged" Erza's face told Mira that wasn't the answer she was looking for. "So, you didn't oh I don't know, get hurt or anything?" Erza tried to hide the strain in her voice. "I got a little scrape and now my feet hurt, why?" Erza rushed quickly to think of an excuse. She couldn't find an unrelated one but she couldn't just say why, Natsu told her no one could find out.

(flash back to when Lucy first came in)

Natsu noticed Lucy when she walked into the guild. She looked happy, even though he knew she wasn't. He took a deep breath. Wait, he smelled Lucy's blood. Had she gotten hurt? Was it because he wasn't there? Wait, he couldn't just go over there, he had to ignore her. Otherwise she would hang around him and get hurt. But wait, Lucy _was_ hurt. "Hey Gray," he asked "Will you do me a favor?" "No way flame-brain"said the ice mage. Natsu was too worried about Lucy to care. What about Erza, he thought. "Hey Erza, would you do me a favor?" he asked cautiously. "Sure" replied the scarlet haired mage, "What do you need?" "I need you to make sure Luce isn't hurt. I wasn't there to protect her this time and now I smell her blood." "Sure thing Natsu," the female mage said, "but why can't you see yourself?" "Because he said if I do I'm not ignoring Lucy and she'll get hurt. Oh, he added, make sure no one finds out _I _put you up to the job"

(flashback ends)

"I was just wondering if you had gotten hurt without Natsu there to protect you," lied the mage. Well, only about her wondering. It wasn't that she didn't care about Lucy, it was just that the thought had never occurred to the red-haired mage that Lucy could get hurt when she was by her self. "Ohh," Mira said, suddenly interested "Natsu _protects_ you? I had no idea he cared so much." It was clear to Lucy that Mira thought she had figured out who Lucy liked. Mira knew that Lucy already knew where this was going, but instead of lying, rejecting that, and trying to change the subject, Lucy just got unhappier. "What's wrong Lucy," she asked. "My love life," Lucy sighed. "Wanna have a sleepover?" Now Mira knew something was wrong. Lucy never had sleepovers because Natsu would come into her house. "Sure" said the mage , she knew Lucy needed it.


	6. Sleepovers and Punching Bags

**I don't own Fairy Tail. I don't own Fairy Tail. I don't own Fairy Tail. I don't own Fairy Tail. I don't own Fairy Tail. **

Right now, all Lucy wanted to do was be by her friends. So, when she suddenly asked Mira if she wanted to have a sleepover, she went with it. Lucy decided to have Levy over too, after all, she wanted to tell her too. Lucy had also decided to tell them about her "love life" or rather lack there of. After all, maybe if she told them, they could help her. Little did she know, they were secretly planning something.

It came as a surprise to Levy when Lucy asked her if she wanted to have a sleepover. "Sure, but won't Natsu just come in your house and wreck it?" Levy asked. "Oh don't worry," Lucy said "He won't be there. "Oh, did you already talk to him?" Levy felt the weight of her words after Lucy stiffened up. "No, but trust me, he won't be there, I'll tell you more tonight. Levy decided that Mira might know more, after all, Mira knew everything as far as relationships went.

When Levy went up to the mage, she found out that Lucy had asked Mira over too. However, neither of them understood why. Lucy had offered before, only to say that Natsu would break into her house and wreck it, even after telling him not to come that night. However, this time Lucy didn't talk to Natsu, and yet she knew so clearly that he wouldn't come. Something was definitely up. Something bad. This was only confirmed by the fact that Lucy had been on edge about anything concerning Natsu that day. What had Natsu done? They both wondered.

It must have been a few days back they decided. First, she was on edge the whole day of the S-class test. Then, there was the incident where she beat Natsu to a pulp, while screaming things between punches. There was one that Mira had taken interest to, but she couldn't remember, and then there was today where she was clearly on edge. Mira and Levy decided to try and remember what she had said yesterday when she was using Natsu as a punching bag.

Punch one was something about breaking into her house.

Punch two was for invading her privacy.

Punch three was for making a mess

Punch four was for breaking some of her stuff

Punch five was for spilling the stuff he broke all over

Puch six was for leaving it there and not telling her

Punch seven was for starting fights where she got hurt

Punch eight was for what was punch eight for?

Punch eight was for doing something with Happy

And punch nine was for never apologizing until she confronted him.

That was it! Lucy was mad because Natsu had done something with Happy, but what? They decided to get all the girls in on it. It was up to them to make Lucy feel better. Maybe they could come to the sleepover too. Levy was just about to ask Lucy when she remembered something. "Mira, what day is it?" Levy asked. "Umm, June twenty, no June thirtieth?" asked Mira. "Remember last time Lucy had us over? I know it was two years ago but it was on her birthday. Natsu had wrecked it and she hasn't had us over since, but that was two years ago," concluded the mage. " Yeah, and?" asked Mira clearly not getting the point. "Tomorrow's Lucy's birthday." said Levy. Lucy needs to be happy on her birthday, besides, I know how to get everyone over to Lucy's house.


	7. Surprise! Happy Birthday!

Lucy sighed on her way home. Saying that she was in a bad mood would be an understatement. Levy had kept her at the guild about an hour after she had planned on leaving. It wasn't that she had a problem with the guild, it was just that she had wanted to clean up before Levy and Mira got there. I had been over a year since they last came over. She didn't want them to get the same impression as when Natsu came to her house on her birthday. Natsu, huh, she thought. That was the other reason Lucy hadn't wanted to be at the guild recently. She felt like she was in the guild because of Natsu, and now that he was ignoring her, she wondered if she should even be in the guild anymore.

"Be careful miss," called out the same guys that always did. Lucy sighed. Just because she was on the edge didn't mean she would fall. If she had 50 jewel for every time that, she would have enough money to not have to worry about her rent. But as she was standing on the edge of the bridge, Lucy wondered if anyone would even care if she fell off. Or jumped. I mean, Natsu wouldn't care, would he? After all, he was ignoring her. But what about Levy? Or Mira? Would they care? But before she could answer the question she realized that she had missed her stop.

Lucy turned around and headed to her house. This time, she ran. If she wanted to get a chance to clean, she'd need at least an hour after all, Natsu...Lucy stopped after that. Natsu. He was all she could think about these days. I guess she couldn't say the same about him. That he thought about her. Lucy made the final turn onto Strawberry Street. Soon after, she realized the lights in her house were still on. That's strange, thought Lucy, I thought I turned them off. Almost as if on cue, the lights turned themselves off.

Lucy shivered as she thought of the possibilities. Had Natsu decided to stop ignoring her? She doubted it. Besides, how could he get there before she did? He was still at the guild when she saw him last. And even if he ran, she would've seen him. Plus he didn't go to bed that early, it was still only about four-thirty. Then it must be a ghost, Lucy confirmed her worst fears. She hoped it was a friendly ghost. Maybe it would help her with her love life too. Lucy laughed at herself.

As Lucy walked up to the door, she heard the ghost mumbling. It definitely wasn't Natsu or Happy though, because the mumbling was higher pitched and most likely female. Then, the house shooshed the ghost. Lucy wondered if her whole house was haunted. That would explain the cheap rent, she thought. Lucy's hand shook as she placed it out in front of her and turned the knob. She stuck her head in the door to look for anything abnormal. So far she didn't see anything. She walked in slowly. She reached out to turn on the lights.

As soon as she turned on the lights, all of the female mages from Fairy Tail jumped out from behind her furniture and shouted, "Surprise!" "What!?" was all Lucy could say. "It's your birthday tomorrow, right Lucy?" Levy asked. Lucy counted the days. Levy was right, it was tomorrow. "I completely forgot. This was probably the best surprise Birthday party ever," Lucy said. "We thought that it would be fun since you never get to have people over and you were so confident that Natsu wouldn't come and," Levy stopped talking. After she had mentioned Natsu, Lucy had gotten tense. So Natsu was the source of all of her stress lately, but why?

"Lucy, are you okay?" asked the small mage, "you got upset ever since I mentioned Natsu, don't worry, this won't be like a couple of years ago," she added. "It's not your fault," explained Lucy, "It's just that Natsu's a touchy subject for me lately." Mira stepped in. "Oh," she asked, suddenly interested. "If you want to hear the story that badly it's fine with me, I was planning on telling you guys, but everyone else will have to listen to it as well," I said, "It's a pretty long story actually."

Everyone else got plates of food and started to sit down. I felt like some kind of mother with thirty kids or something, because they all sat around me for our little Story time. At this point, I didn't even care that all the girls in Fairy Tail would know. Hey, maybe it would stop gossip from going around I thought. Before I began my story, I made them all swear not to tell Natsu. Especially, Erza. Not only was she close to him, but she was whispering about something with him the other day. And after that, my story began.


	8. Why are YOU here?

Lucy began her story. "I had always figured that Natsu and I had a special relationship with each other, but I guess I was wrong. It started right before the S-class exam. We had just completed our last mission that Natsu had picked out. It was our job to defeat a monster that was terrorizing this village next to a volcano. Oh, and Erza wasn't there," she added. "Natsu had almost finished off the monster when it grabbed me and flew off to the volcano. Natsu managed to save me before I was eaten by the thing, but I suppose I had gotten hurt, because he insisted on me having wendy or Porlyusica looking at my cuts. After Wendy healed me, I went back to my house, and Natsu wasn't there, but then I remembered that he was probably training all night for the S-class exam. At the time I didn't think much of it, but the day of the S-class exam he still didn't come.

That was when I decided to go to the guild. I figured he was probably there and that you guys were still partying. And then, I was knocked out. I woke up at the guild. That's when I first realized there was something wrong. Whenever Natsu thinks I might be hurt, he always has to take extreme measures. Like before when I had to be healed by Wendy. After that, he leaves a note and apologizes before he decides to later blame it on someone else. Like this one. It was from before the mission." She passed the note around to everyone so they could see it. There were a few chuckles here and there and soon, all of the girls had finished reading it. Lucy continued.

"And that day there was the incident where I had beaten him, Gajeel, Laxus, Gray, and Elfman up. I'm sure none of you could forget that. But after that day, I didn't even notice that Natsu wasn't here. It's typical for him to stay away from me if he thinks I might be bad. Hence the notes." she explained. "But then the next day, he told me that since he was S-class now, he would be doing harder missions. And then he said that he thought I would be better off doing jobs on my own. And that's why yesterday I did my mission alone. I'm sorry for lying to you guys and saying it was because I needed my rent. I guess some part of me was just hoping that he would change his mind. But over these past few days I've come to realize;"

Suddenly the doorbell rang. Lucy sighed and went to open it. She saw Gajeel and the other members of Fairy Tail there. Lucy looked at him confused for a second. "Why are you guys here? I hope it's not to crash the party again," She said sternly. She would never forget what had happened at her last birthday party she had held. "Well, Na I mean, you're lion guy told us that it was your birthday, and asked me to make sure you were all right because Erza said she was busy tonight. And then I asked Erza what she was doing, and then she said that she was going to your party. After that I told Gray what was happening and he said that we should come over here. And then we told the master and he was all 'is that so, Mira told me something about that' and then he was all 'I remember, she was going to do a surprise birthday!' and we all decided that we should come here to celebrate.

After that we decided to leave and we were wondering where your house was so then we had to go and get Natsu so he could show us the way to your house. And that's why we're here. Plus also, Levy told me that the cake she made was really good." he concluded. Lucy stared at him after his long Narrative. "Fine, you can come in," she conceded, "But you, Natsu, and Gray better use plastic cups, I don't need another broken one. I still get shards stuck in my feet sometimes," I glared at them. I briefly saw Natsu, and he shrunk back. He looked miserable. I wondered what was wrong with him. He had huge bags under his eyes and he looked like he hadn't gotten sleep for a week. Suddenly, she realized she was in a danger zone and was just barely able to evade the stampede of hungry animals coming through her door.


	9. Broken

It had been an hour since the guys had flooded into her apartment, and she was still marveling at how everyone could fit. Not only that, but there was still quite a bit of room for moving. She realized her apartment was big for her rent, but still. She decided she would have to measure it and see if the documents she had been given had a mistake in them or something. She got up to go and walk around some. Maybe doing that would help some.

She had just started to walk around when she first saw Erza. Lucy was about to go over when she noticed she was secretly talking to Natsu wasn't the first time either. This was probably the fifth or sixth time she had seen them whispering in the past couple of days. It seemed weird, Lucy had never really seen them spend that much time together, but she supposed they were on a team and all. Plus maybe she hadn't noticed it because she had always thought that she was the closest to Natsu. She was just imagining that, so maybe she was imagining this whole thing with Natsu and Erza.

Just then, Mira popped up behind her. Lucy had noticed a second before she could use her sneak attack though. She whirled around to face the mage. "Hey, great part, huh. You really outdid yourself this time!" she said, in the most cheerful voice she could manage. Good, thought Lucy. She didn't have enough time to see that I was looking at Natsu. Not that it matters, she thought, she was going to tell her anyway. Interruptions just seemed to find her like she was some kind of magnet or something. "Hey, what's up?" asked the mage quietly.

"Nothing much, what about you? It seems like you've been staring at someone," cooed Mira. "Not really, I'm just tired that's all," she lied. "You know I haven't getting much sleep lately, so I was probably staring off into space." "oh," after she heard that, Mira pouted. She was sure she had almost gotten something on the blond mage. "Het, need a drink?" asked Lucy, "I'm going over there to get some food anyway." "Sure," said Mira. She noticed all the guys around there, maybe she could spy and see who Lucy liked.

Lucy bounce over to the food. She hadn't realized it until recently, but she was getting pretty hungry. She hadn't had anything to eat since her shake back at the guild. She grabbed a paper plate and had gotten the food and some punch for Mira when she noticed Natsu talking to Gajeel and Gray. Who cares, she thought, but then she heard Natsu say her name. What was he talking about? She inched closer.

"Yeah, I've broken all ties with her. She's too weak to go on dangerous missions with me, and she needs to be protected. It would be better if I never knew Lucy, because… Lucy didn't hear the rest. Her eyes filled up with tears and she broke the glass filled with puch she was holding. She slowly turned away and left. She never should have spied on them. What did she think would happen, Natsu would be telling them his feelings for her and that's why he was ignoring her! She felt stupid, pathetic, and weak. Natsu was right, she did need to be protected. Protected from everything, including herself.

Lucy stopped and found herself on the bridge. _Would_ anyone care if she jumped? Would anyone care if she died? Natsu said it would've been better if he never met her, so maybe, if he didn't have to see her again, that would be enough. Lucy's tear dropped into the river, leaving a single ring in the water. Then, a drop of her blood fell in, swirling the water with strings of red. She had made up her decision. She leaned forward over the water, and she jumped. As she was falling, she thought about all of her times with Natsu. Was he really just faking happiness the whole time. Or maybe, he was happy and it was just not her that made him happy. Huh, that's funny she thought, I think I hear footsteps. But before she could see who's they were, she was plunged into the freezing river.

(Back at the Guild)

"Yeah, I've broken all ties with her. She's too weak to go on dangerous missions with me, and she needs to be protected. It would be better if I never knew Lucy, because then I wouldn't worry about her so much. Now, if she even has a scrape I go ballistic. I would do anything to keep her safe, and I decided the safest place for her to be is with her other friends. That way, she can do easier missions and she won't get hurt as much. I mean, last time, I thought I had lost her for good, and I never want to go through that again." finished Natsu.

Suddenly, he smelled Lucy's blood. He turned around, about five feet away, there was a broken glass. It was Lucy's alright, but it wasn't dropped, or she wouldn't have gotten cut. She must have broken it in her hands though, and Lucy never did that. Something was wrong, he could tell. He searched for Lucy around the house, but couldn't find her anywhere. That's when he notice the blood on the handle. Lucy was in trouble, he could tell. He ran out the door following her scent. It led him to the bridge right by Lucy's house. He saw her figure on the edge. He started to sprint down the road, but it was too late. His heart twisted in despair as he saw her figure disappear under the dark twisted waves and sink.


	10. Looking past the Blurred Lines

Natsu wasn't even thinking when he jumped into the waves after her. He couldn't bear the thought of losing Lucy, she meant everything to him. That was the reason he didn't want her to be friends with him. Natsu dove as deep as he could but he still couldn't see Lucy. He pushed himself further until he caught a glimpse of the mage. He reached his arm farther, but just before he got a hold of her he ran out of breath. He was drowning. Somehow, he didn't seem to mind it, after all, Lucy wasn't ok either. If she had to die he would rather die with her. Suddenly, something started to pull him up.

Natsu blinked his eyes a couple of times. He was on the surface. Standing next to him was a soaked Lisanna. "Natsu!" she exclaimed, "What do you think you were doing? You could have died!" Natsu knew that, but he didn't care. "If it wasn't for Gray and Gajeel telling me that you ran out planning to do something rash you would have to!" "I know," croaked Natsu, "but what about Lucy?" After he said that, the members there looked down with solemn faces.

Natsu looked around. "Where's Lucy?!" he asked, panicked. "Look, Natsu, I couldn't save her, she was too deep." The look on Natsu's face explained it all. He was going insane. Like right now. The guild members stepped away, afraid of what his rash actions might be. Natsu saw his chance and bolted to the edge of the water. He jumped in and forced himself down with a drive. He had to save Lucy. She should still be ok, right? I mean, it hadn't been that long since he was pulled up. She couldn't die now, she couldn't. As much as she got put in dangerous situations, he just couldn't see her dying, I mean, she had managed up to this point, right.

(Back to Lucy)

Lucy felt her lungs start to burn and her eyes sting as the frozen water danced in and out of her. Her vision started to blur and she thought she had caught a glimpse of Natsu once, but the image drifted away. Perhaps this was an illusion, she thought. She had always thought drowning would be a more rough way to die, but somehow, when it was intentional, it was almost graceful. Like she was just floating on a cloud or something. The longer she was there, the less she could see, and the darker it became. Suddenly, each little movement became a strained effort, and she could tell she was nearing the end. I guess the thing about people thrashing is a myth, she thought, because your movements are so strained you can barely move at all. And then, her vision blacked out, and she just felt herself hit the bottom of the river.

When she woke up, her vision was blurred. She was wet and cold, she felt herself shiver. "Are you cold?" asked the Natsus. "Yes," she croaked out. "Here, I'll warm you up then." This Natsu, or rather Natsus, were different. Somehow, they all acted like her dream Natsu. Maybe this was a dream. "Hey, Natsu, when did you multiply?" asked Lucy. This would tell her if it was a dream or not. "Luce, are you ok?" they asked, in unison. "of course, why?"her head hurt, like some kind of awful migraine was implanted into her skull, but other than that, she was fine. She felt Natsu pick her up and hold her like a baby as he carried her away from wherever they were. She never got to find out their destination though, because she blacked out before he made his way there.


	11. An Ominous Job: A quest for her Friends

**Sorry about the long wait guys. I've been pretty busy lately with school starting and after school activities. Ughh, Springboard sucks. We've recently had to write a short story in English and I'm like 'Yes! I can do this," but they gave us a bunch of guidelines and by the time I finally decided on a story, I had like one week left to do it, and before that was just me being unmotivated/busy. I was having trouble making this chapter flow into this next part and keeping it long enough and all that. No new news, I still don't own Fairy Tail. Oh, and if you guys want, I'll post my story on my page, still have to type the last part though. Anyway, just tell me if you want me to in the comments. And I'm so sorry to all of you who were stuck waiting. I feel awful. Oh, I almost forgot, I'm starting a new part with this chapter where it's going t obe like a long story arc so each will start with the same part and then continue with a subchapter. Enjoy? Mathmaddy (who is no longer good at math)**

When lucy finally woke up, she realized that she was in a bright, white room. The hospital. That was strange, she thought, I don't remember coming here. Suddenly, she thought back to what she had thought was a dream about the dream Natsu's. He must have taken her here right?Wait, did that mean he had acted like the Natsu's in her dreams? Wait, did that mean that he wasn't ignoring her anymore? She looked around the room. She saw many of her guild-mates, but Natsu wasn't there. She wished she had his superior sense of smell, because then she could tell if he'd been there since when he'd brought her. Not that he'd been there in the first place, she reminded herself.

"H-How did I get here?" asked Lucy, testing her theory as to why she was there.

"Oh, uhhh," Erza looked torn. "Someone found you in the river and called the guild since you have that mark on your hand," she said simply Many of the other guildmates, mainly girls, looked up at her questioningly. She just gave them a look and they went back to what they were doing.

Lucy caught on and had a feeling that she was lying but was her explanation really any more believable. I mean, according to her, multiple Natsu's' carried her to the hospital, not to mention the gentle, kind ones that only appeared in dreams, she thought, upset. "Thanks for waiting you guys," Lucy said genuinely, but determined to figure out if it was a lie. "So, how come someone else was at the river?" she asked curious, and pushing the subject.

"Maybe first you should tell us why you were in the river," Mira stated coolly, covering for Erza. Lucy tried to shy away from that topic, but when Mira kept pestering her she finally gave up. "Well, you know, I was at the party, and then I decided it was kind of, you know, loud there, so I uh, decided to take a walk on the bridge. You know, the one by my house and uh, well, I can't exactly remember the rest," she lied. She knew very well that she jumped off that bridge. And she was about ready to kill the person who had saved her. Why couldn't they just let her be? Let her out of this miserable, dream Natsuless world.

For a time, it seemed like Natsu was acting more and more like the ones in her dreams, but now, she didn't know what to think. After all, it seemed like he had grown cold and heartless towards her. He did kick her off the team for being weak after all. She had always thought they were friends, and perhaps even more than that, but now, she didn't know what to think.

Later that day, Lucy was released from the hospital. She sat in her room wondering what she should do. Man, it was so quiet without Natsu around, she thought. She got up and started to make lunch, but was surprised when she didn't find all of her food gone and her fridge stuffed with fishbones. She pushed the thought away and got out some food. Without even realizing it, she noticed she had made the food really spicy. It burned her tongue, and she just left it there. Things were so different now that Natsu wasn't by her side, and she felt lonely, so she decided to go to the guild.

When she was at the guild, Lucy ordered a milkshake and sat at the bar. She looked around the guild and noticed that her usual team wasn't there, so when Levy entered, she called her over.

"Hey Levy!" She smiled, even though that wasn't what she felt like doing. The last thing she wanted right now was for her best friend to worry about her. "So, I was thinking of going on a mission later, and, well, I was wondering if you wanted to come with me?" Lucy asked the mage. She needed to quickly find a different team, being solo just didn't feel right to her.

"Sorry, but later I was going to go on a job with Gajeel and Lily," the blue haired mage apologized.

"It's fine, I wouldn't want to keep you two love birds apart," Lucy teased, forgetting herself briefly.

"No, you've got it all wrong! We're just friends."

"That's what all lovers say at first." At the mention of lovers Mira came out.

"Who loves who?" she asked, trying to catch up on the conversation.

"Levy and Gajeel, they're just so adorable together." Lucy added a tiny squeal at the end, fangirling her favorite couple.

"No, I said that I don't love him!" Levy shouted, a little too loudly. Gajeel must've finally heard over the ruckus of the guild, because he came over.

"Oi, who does the shrimp love?" he asked trying to act nonchalant but failing miserably.

"Not telling," Lucy said stubbornly, she wouldn't just sell out the fact that Levy loved Gajeel, especially not to Gajeel. That was something Levy needed to tell him, if she ever decided to.

"Come on, this is important," he whispered harshly.

"If you want to know so bad, you should figure it out yourself." she chimed before turning her back, leaving an angry Gajeel to stalk back to his corner.

Lucy went up to the request board shortly after, going to choose a job she could do on her own since Levy wasn't coming. She spotted an excellent job she could do with the old team, but…No, she was so tired of not having a team holding her back. She grabbed the quest anyway, knowing fully well that she would need someone more powerful like Natsu to help her, even after all of her intense training a year ago. Who needed Natsu anyway she thought. She headed off towards the mission, she would prove him wrong. She would prove Natsu he was wrong.

A Crappy Inn (Natsu's Location)

Natsu looked up from the crappy inn he was staying at. They had just finished the job and were staying there for the night, planning to return to the guild the next day. Well, he and Happy were. Gray had already left, taking the train, something Natsu refused to do, especially since lately his sickness had gotten worse.

He had a slight feeling that something was wrong, although he didn't know what. He couldn't stop thinking about Lucy. That was one of the reasons he had rushed this job so much. He was worried that she would get in trouble again without him there. He had left Erza there to protect her but still, what if she tried to kill herself again? What if he got back and he figured out she died? What if this was all his fault? He wasn't able to sleep the rest of the night with the questions floating around in his otherwise thoughtless mind.


	12. Memories of Natsu

Lucy quickly arrived at the opposite train station near the forest where her mission was located. She had almost forgotten what it was like to not have a dragon slayer about to puke on you, or walking to the destination. That last one especially was a pain, although if it was for Natsu, she would do anything. She always assumed they had felt the same way but...yeah. She tried not to think of it much, something she was constantly failing at.

She quickly regained focus and looked at the request one more time before heading off towards the village. Apparently, something mysterious had been going on in the forest and a bunch of people around it and in the village had been losing their memory. The perpetrators must have been powerful since the military was overcome, but Lucy didn't really in the day she and Natsu could defeat opponents the military couldn't. That's when it tabbed her through the 's when it hit her.

It might even be better if she was able to lose her memory, because then, she wouldn't care about Na, him, that much. She could just continue her life, like she was trying to do now. Trying but failing, she thought miserably. She shook her head, clearing her mind before heading through the villiage gate. She couldn't lose her memory, not yet at least, because she had to finish the job for the village.

She ventured into the deep forest, hoping that whatever was taking people's memories wasn't too far in, because it was getting dark quickly. That and she had a feeling that she would get lost. As she trudged further and further into the forest, her fears were proven true, and her feet felt like heavy blocks of lead weighing her down to the Earth. She found a secluded cave nearby and decided to rest there for the night despite the countless bugs she could imagine hiding between the crevices.

Lucy was cold. She hadn't brought a blanket because she was used to the fast paced completion of her old team, expecting to just have to sleep at an inn before heading home the next day. Instead, she was now stuck lying on the hard, rocky surface of the ground. If Natsu were there, he would lie right next to her, heating her up with his fire, and let her rest her head on his shoulder, but he wasn't there. He was gone. Not forever, but gone nonetheless.

The next morning came all too soon, and Lucy sighed as she was woken up, torn from her makeshift bed by some creature. It looked like a mix between a drone and… well, something not human. It's skin was a grayish green and it looked kind of sickly.

By the look of the nonexistent sun, it wasn't even six in the morning yet, and her day was already horrible she thought. Not only did all of her muscles ache from sleeping on the uneven surface, but she was pulled out of bed and scratched be the weird things teeth and claws.

She tried to fight it off, but just as she was about to finish it off, about five more came crawling out of the shadows. One of them looked a little different, newer, or more powerful perhaps, and it shot something into her side. Her vision started to blur and the last thing she saw was her being carried away. It was kind of like deja vu, except this time, instead of a bunch of dream Natsu's carrying her, it was a bunch of horrid beast half carrying, half dragging her deeper still into the woods.

When she woke up, this time in a large empty room, she saw a man hovering over her. He looked pretty sinister, and Lucy could tell she wasn't exactly in the best position. Her hands were chained to the wall, and her magic had been drained. It caused her body to feel weak, and she wished that Natsu was there beside her with his goofy grin telling her everything would be okay.

But not everything was okay, not now. Natsu wasn't beside her to help protect her. He was far away, on an S-class mission, not caring at all what happened to her. He thought she was weak, so he decided to do harder missions without her. He decided he didn't want to take out weak enemies like the one in front of her. Except the one in front of her was powerful, she could tell that much.

He wasn't supposed to be this powerful, she thought. Not there were any memories of his power, but still. If they thought it was dangerous, they would have marked it higher, right? he was even more unconvinced when she searched and found his steady release of magic pouring out of him, something she had learned to do while training. Something was wrong, something was definitely wrong. This guy, he was just as powerful, no more powerful than Natsu himself, so how could she defeat him.

Now she really wished Natsu was there beside her. There to protect her and there to give her hope, telling her magic power didn't matter if he couldn't fight as well as him. There with the rest of the team. Even if he was there alone with her, she would have been happy, but he wasn't. He left her to face this one on her own, but she couldn't. He was right, she wasn't strong. She wasn't powerful, and she wasn't Natsu level. No matter how much she liked to think her quick mind made up for her lack of power, she was wrong, and Natsu was right. She couldn't keep up with him, she couldn't do an S-class mission with him.

Lucy shook away the tears that she knew were starting to form. No, she had to stay away from Natsu. She couldn't always rely on him to protect her. That was why he hadn't wanted her on the team. He left for a reason, and if he thought that it was best that they didn't hang out anymore, than that was his decision, and she had to respect that. He obviously didn't want to see her, so it would be better if she didn't see him either.

She put on the bravest face she could manage and faced the trouble that lie ahead of her. She was a Fairy Tail mage, and that meant she could take care of herself. She was glad that she didn't quit, even if she went to throw her life away, that was the last thing she had. She glanced at her right hand, her her mark one last time. It symbolized her guild, her home, her family and it symbolized Fairy Tail.


	13. Author's Note 1

**Hey guys, this is mathmaddy, and I'm thee author of this fanfiction as well as one other. I have a couple things to tell you and a couple of thing to ask you, okay? And if I'm inspired, I might add a little extra something for you guys at the end. **

**1) I wanted to notify everybody that I updated chapters 11 and 12 since they were a bit short, added some more details, a bit of new info, etc. You won't be really confused if you don't read it but you continue reading, but I suggest those of you who have read it, before seeing this page, read it again. If you read it after the update, September 25, 2014 at 6:05 pm, then it doesn't affect you.**

**2) I want you guys to vote on the outcome of the story, kind of. I'll give you two options and I want you to comment on it. Option one is that Lucy loses her memory and goes back to Fairy Tail. Natsu feels like it's his fault, so he takes her a bunch of places, trying to help her get it back.**

**Option two, Lucy runs out of the woods, and into the village and manages to contact FT, but she's captured. Natsu freaks out and rushes to where she is and manages to get there before she loses her memory. He fights the enemy, but just before he takes him into the village/has him arrested, he wipes Natsu's memory and Lucy brings him back to the guild, unaware. When she figures out he lost his memories, she feels guilty and feels like it's her fault for taking on the mission/feels like that's why Natsu ignored her. I WILL PRETTY MUCH COMBINE THIS FANFIC WITH MY OTHER ONE SINCE IT"S NOT THAT POPULAR ON ITS OWN IF NOT I CAN ONLY HOPE THAT IT WILL GET MORE POPULAR.**

**3) So, my friend wanted me to write a Jerza fanfic, and I have no idea what I want the basic storyline to be, like the setting, how long it should be, and other stuff like that. All I know is that I want it to have a bunch of cute fluff that makes the reader feel embarrassed with the characters even though it's just something like talking to each other or going in each other's rooms. I want it to have something to do with Jellal's complex about him being evil while Erza is good/his whole he walks in the darkness so he cant be with her. I want it to involve elements from their past together(kind of connects to the previous element.) And Finally, I want it to be in the present or very early future (such as after the current arc) so their powers aren't any different, they're not older, etc. Please also comment these ideas or you can PM me, I don't care. I appreciate all ideas and will most likely do elements from each one. Also, If I get a lot of requests for oneshots, I might do a Jerza oneshot 'book'.**

**Okay, so I'm not entirely motivated, but I feel bad for rambling on, so I'll do this for you anyway. Aren't I a caring author. Plus, if I don't do it now, I'll have to wait another ten chapters or so and I've always wanted to do one of these.**

**Me (right now I'm Mira): "Natsu, how come you kicked Lucy off the team?"**

**Natsu: "I don't want her to get hurt, ever, I couldn't bear it, so going on dangerous mission with me, she always gets hurt. I can't do it anymore."**

**Me: "Awww! That's adorable! You love her so much, you would hurt Lucy to keep her safe."**

**Natsu: "What!? Lucy's hurt!? I didn't mean to, I was just trying to get her to hate me and stay away from me!"**

**Me: "Think about how Lucy must feel, she feels really weak, especially after she heard you talking to Gray and Gajeel."**

**Gajeel: "Oi, you talkin' 'bout me?"**

**Me: "Oh no, just about who Levy has a crush on." I lie.**

**Gajeel rushes in the room.**

**Gajeel: "Who is it?! I swear if you don't tell me I'll kill all of you AND that bastard!"**

**Me: "Ooh, does someone like the tiny Levy-chan?"**

**Natsu: Laughs histerically.**

**Gajeel: "Shut up!"**

**Me: "At least you do missions with her." Glares at Natsu.**

**Gajeel: "He he he, suure," he trails off.**

**Me: Glares "What did you do?! I swear if you..." I trail off.**

**Gajeel: It's not like that okay! I was just thinking 'bout it after what the salamander said 'kay? Jeez"**

**Me: "Okay, I'll accept that since things actually happen between you two, unlike Jerza and Gruvia. I mean at least Jerza tries, but Gruvia, I blame Gray."**

**Gray: "Hey, how's it 'spossed to be my fault?!"**

**Me: "You're the one who rejects Juvia! Do you know how hard she tries?!"**

**Gray: "She's just so...clingy."**

**Me: "Because she likes you and you haven't told her anything about it, all you do is ignore her." Glare seven harder.**

**Gray: "Natsu's ignoring Lucy!"**

**Me: "I know that! I'll give him one more chance since he has a reason."**

**Natsu" "Ha Ice princess, my couple is better than yours!"**

**Me: "Shut up! Neither of yours is good right now! You should be ashamed."**

**All three guys: "But what about you and Laxus, you haven't gotten that far yourself, right?"**

**Me: Blushes. "W-who says we're a couple? Besides that's beside the point."**

**Them: "Oh really?"**

**Me: "Shut up or I'll call all of them over here and tell them you like them!"**

**Silence.**

**Lucy: "You guys?! I haven't been able to find you anywhere!"**

**Natsu: "Gotta go guys, and for the record, I wasn't here."**

**Natsu leaves.**

**Lucy comes in.**

**Me: "Oh, hey Lucy, Levy, we're just talking about who likes who."**

**The atmosphere gets tense and Gajeel walks out, not bothering anymore.**

**Me: "Well that was weird."**

**Levy and Lucy nod their heads.**

**Me: "I guess that's the end of that for now, you guys wanna go shopping?"**


	14. Save Me

As the man stepped closer to Lucy, she could almost smell his breath. "Well, what do we have here," he'd chided, "A little fairy without her friends. Looks like they all left you."

"H-how do you know that?" She rasped, pushing the words out of her dry throat.

"I can see all your memories, and I can take all of them away, but I don't think I'll do that just yet, I think I want to have a little fun first. I might add a few, or alter some, I still have no idea, but that's just only the beginning, I can see through all the moments you have hidden away. To me you are like an open book," He called everything out in glee, and his words made Lucy shudder where she stood.

He closed his eyes and Lucy could feel him probe around in her conscious. She blocked it as best shee could, although she knew what she could protect was very little, especially if she wanted to ba able to block him out. She gatheed all of her memories with Natsu, the one thing she wouldn't let him change, the one thing he couldn't. He could take everything else. But she couldn't bear to protect the one of him telling her she was off the team, and she left him a small strand.

"Oh, you poor thing, you were abandoned by them were you. But don't worry, I won't abandon you, I'll keep you forever. Especially since I haven't collected all your memories yet. Oh and of course I would know, I could feel the barrier you know." He added the last part as a looming threat before letting her off the chains but still keeping her in the room before leaving.

As soon as he left, Lucy looked for a place to escape from, knowing that if she was going to do it, it would have to be in one go. She searched around the room, but nothing immediately caught her eye. She sat back down in the middle of the room waiting for something to happen.

She didn't know how long she'd been sitting there before the guy came back in, but this time he brought a large table-like board with handcuffs on the side,cmagic cancelling, she assumed. He laid the board on the ground before putting her on it and continuing to probe into her mind.

This time, he wormed his way through her shield and selected the memory of when Natsu had saved her from Phantom Lord, rushing all the way their when he'd figured out she'd been taken. The memory replayed in Lucy's memory, but this time, instead of him rushing to save her, he never came, and she was stuck in the jail cell until she found a way out from the sky jail cell. Lucy struggled against the memory that she knew was wrong, but slowly, it began to sink into her memory and became all too familiar. Nobody saved her, so why would they save her know? she wondered.

When the man finally left, she could barely tell which of her memories were real and which of them were fake anymore. She cradled her head in the corner, searching one last time for any place to escape. This time, she found one, a few small pieces of crumbly wall leading up to a boarded window that she hadn't noticed before. She climbed up to the window using the foot hole created by the archaic wall and pried the boards off the window before she fell. She caught herself careful not to make a loud sound and sat down to rest a bit before attempting again since this time she only had to climb out the window.

After she had finally rested, she got up against the wall and used the same foot holes to pry herself up to the window. She had just gotten to the last one and had started lifting herself out when the last foot hole collapsed, leaving her feet dangling. Lucy was determined to pull herself up this time, because if she didn't, she would have to find a different way out. She wiggled her body and pushed off against a few loose or sticking out bricks and finally made it to the top of the window.

Apparently, that wasn't her only trial, because there was a rose bush under the window where she would have jumped making her escape. She thought for a long time about a way she could get around it, but when she found none, she decided to just jump. Just then, she heard the door open to her cell below and what must have been the guy keeping her captive. She heard him shout in anger as he saw her up there, and he started to furiously climb the wall.

Lucy knew she would have to jump now, becaus he was taller than her, so even without the last step he could probably make it up to the window too. And by the looks of it, he was stronger, so he probably wouldn't struggle the way she did. But Lucy also knew that she had to time it right, so she waited until he was just about in reaching distance of where the last foot hole had been when she jumped straight into the rose bush and ran towards the town.

As she was running, she feel the blood dripping down her legs, stinging as it was exposed to the outside air filled with dirt. She pushed on through the forest, not really knowing where she was going or where she needed to head, and her magic was still to weak to be used. She proved her point that she must be lucky, because she quickly came to another small village near the woods. She raced into a small shop and asked the old lady there if she could use her magic crystal ball, hoping the guild would listen to her plea for help despite the past.

The old woman looked slightly confused, but agreed. Lucy had finally gotten an answer from the guild, seeing Mira's face before the man from before appeared behind her. He quickly overpowered Lucy and brought her to the ground and dragged her away. "Save…..me….." was all that Lucy managed to croak out before she was dragged away, and she hoped that the guild would be able to hear her.


	15. The Way Things Used to Be

**A/N: Sorry for not updating for a while. Things have been kind of hectic at home and in my free time I was having a hard time finding inspiration to write. It didn't help that I had this great idea for a regular story, so I kind of had to push past that. Also, I started several new manga. Including, Until Death do us Part, Pandora Heart, Millennium Snow, Ranma 1/2, Naruto, and the graphic novel for Sword Art Online. As well as various fanfiction. So, sorry. I apologize. I tried to make a long-ish chapter. :) Might be another one today as an apology. Depends on how my other one goes.**

Back at the Guild

Mira screamed as she saw Lucy get dragged away by the mysterious man. The entire guild went into a massive panic, not even allowing her enough quiet to think. The master came out quickly as he head the ruckus, wanting nothing more than to silence it. As soon as he appeared, the guild quieted, looking up at him expectantly. He summoned Mira over to explain everything, and as soon as he heard the news, his face turned grim.

He ordered Levy and a few others to research the incident and similar ones, as well as possible suspects and their abilities, as well as assertaining any other inportant imformation. He knew that if any of them would be able to figure out her location and her current situation, it was her. He also gathered searching parties, assigning them to certain areas and nearby villages. THe groups came together, discussed strategies and gave a time to meet back at the guild. They had just about finished up when Natsu walked in, soaked from the rain pouring endlessly outside.

"What's going on guys? Is something wrong?" He asked everything curiously, scanning the room for anything missing. He immediately noticed that Lucy wasn't present, although it had to be some kind of coincidence, right? She probably just went on a job, he had heard that she planned to do one. His worries grew worse as he noticed their faces darken and as they huddled up together.

"Shit, what do we tell him?"asked Gray, hurriedly. "I mean, you know, he and Lucy were…" He trailed off, leaving the rest to be implied as the young fire mage turned to look at him.

"What?"asked Mira surprised, "I thought that he cut ties with her and it was only a temporary thing and that was why…" she also trailed off, not wanting to repeat the words, once more, of the fate of Lucy.

"No, you see because of, you know, he cut the ties to protect her. There were, a few incidents, in our last mission."

"Oh," Mira said, finding the situation suddenly making sense. "So that was why we had to cover up for him. And I thought it was important" she said sternly, clearly irritated that her previously favorite couple had broke apart over something like this.

The master looked at Natsu cautiously before speaking. "I'm afraid there had been an accident while on a mission. We no longer have any connection, or idea what has happened to," he paused for a second, swallowing. "To Lucy Heartfilia." As he said the last part, Natsu felt like his whole world had been shifted, no, broken, shattered into a million pieces, into a mess that he could never put back together again. This wasn't like last time, where she was right there, he had no idea where she was. He slowly stumbled out of the guild and wandered aimlessly, barely noticing as he stumbled right in front of her apartment.

He looked up at it sullenly, wondering if it would ever be inhabited again. He climbed the brick wall, just like he used to, but was shocked as the vines he once relied on for support had withered away, the remains unstable. As he forced his way through the window, he noticed that her house looked was disorderly, as if she hadn't touched anything since he'd last left. Then he remembered she'd just gotten released from the hospital.

He lightly brushed his fingers against the closet where he used to stand and mock Lucy, and where he used to always tell her to wear his favorite red ribbon, but she always wore the pink one, and know he knew why. The color of his hair. All this time, he had meant just as much to her as she did to him, but he let her go. He hadn't been there to protect her, all this time. He was too worried about what he wanted. He wondered if she even wanted him there right now. After all, she probably hated him.

He continued to look around the room, searching for any clues even though he knew it would be pointless. He searched everywhere, her cabinets, everything. Finally, he made his way to the one place he didn't want to be. Their, no her, bed. He gently picked up the pillowcase,as if it might shatter, and held it against him. He wished things could just be the way they used to be. He laid down on his side of the bed and snuggled close to her pillow, pretending it was Lucy. He barely noticed as he slowly drifted off to sleep, not quite as well as it had been before, but still sleep all the same.


	16. Punishment

**A/N Sorry for the really late update guys. I tried to make it extra long for you to make it up to you guys. Also, at least I didn't end it in a cliff hanger like I was about to and did for this chapter. Anyway, I was really unmotivated to write for a while there since I hadn't written in a while and I was having a little bit of trouble getting into the right mood, you know? Anyway, in addition, my stupid computer/laptop decided to be mean, so there past couple of days when I would have written, it wouldn't open the internet, it would just get stuck in the middle. And it wasn't a WIFI problem because the internet on my i-pod was working, but, oh well. Anyway, you guys will want to read this chapter. **

Lucy's Apartment

When Natsu woke up, he expected Lucy to be by his side before he remembered the previous night's events. He checked the clock be side him and saw that it was about noon, so most of the members would be at the guild by now. He hoped that nobody noticed him coming late, especially Gajeel or Wendy since they'd be able to tell that he'd been at Lucy's house from her scent wrapped around his clothes. He stepped into the guild quite antsy though, hoping that they'd come up with a plan of action by now. He practically jumped to the center of the conversation between the Master, Mira, Erza, Gray, Levy and Gajeel, and a few others of course.

"So, what's the plan?" He asked.

"Plan? Natsu, I'm afraid that even if we knew where Lucy was, we wouldn't be able to act so brashly."

"Haven't you guys been trying to locate her?" Natsu raised his voice.

"Yes, Natsu, but just because we have a general idea of where she is doesn't mean we can just barge in. Things like this take precision. If we just search the forest they'll know we're there.

"Then we can split into small groups and search the forest."

"It's too dangerous to split up. If we're battling who I think we are, then the person who captured Lucy is extremely powerful. We'll all need to team up.

"What if he leaves with Lucy?! What do we do then?! What if something happens to her?!"

"Natsu calm down, we're still working on it, but Lucy will have to take care of herself until we can help her." The master attempted to calm Natsu down.

"I THOUGHT YOU GUYS CARED ABOUT LUCY! DON'T YOU?" Natsu screamed, as loud as he could before exiting the guild and slamming the door. If they wouldn't search for Lucy then he would have to do it himself. After all, the master had given him some of the villages she might be in. He ran all the way to his house, shoving random clothes and items into his bag before heading out to the mysterious northern village.

Lucy's POV

Lucy leaned against the wall uncomfortably. She was tired, but when her body sank, the chains put around her wrist cut into her skin. She struggled against the shackles when she could, not really caring if it scarred her anymore, but most of the time she barely had the energy to move. By her calculations, she had been there about two days without any magical power or food, not to mention the endless sessions of mind alterations she went through, fighting them the entire time, blocking her precious memories and struggling not to let any of them change.

She heard the same, familiar footsteps against the cold brick floor, as well as the scratching noise that accompanied it. Great, she thought, this was all she needed right now. She gathered up all the energy she could and stuck herself to the floor as much as she could. She was determined to fight him the entire time she was here. As he stepped into the room, she noticed he was carrying something different. It was long and skinny, and there were many different colored sticks piercing through it. First, he leaned towards her, struggling to pull her away from the corner she had wedged herself into. He struggled for about twenty minutes or so before her energy finally gave out and he managed to drag h across the room and strap her onto the board.

Once she was strapped onto the board, he got a sinister look on his face, and she could tell that she was in for some trouble. Not only did she not have her magic now, but she was hungry and pretty much out of energy. If this was his plan to break her all along, he was sure one hell of a genius, that was for sure. Ever since she had tried to escape, he'd been especially harsh and rough with his movements around her, not even bothering to be delicate with his touch. That's how she could first tell something was different, something was wrong.

He started by gently picking up my hair that draped over the board towards the floor. It had grown longer since I stopped maintaining it. I had always kept it the same since Natsu loved it like that and he would always compliment me, but after what happened I didn't care anymore. It had been about half a month since that day, so now, my hair almost grazd the floor. He wove it around his hands and brought it up to his nose before smelling it, no, that was what Natu did, this was different, it was more like he was inhaling it. He sighed after smelling it, gntly caressing my cheek, giving me a playful kiss.

Something burned inside of me, anger. The same thing I'd seen give Natsu so much power. The same thing I'd seen turn good, ordinary people into villains. I wondered what it would do to me, until I realized that the magic that I normally had, that felt so familiar, was back. My anger surged and I attacked him with as much force as I could, using the magic directly, one of the new powers I had obtained from my training. I knocked him back, but it wasn't enough to stop him permanently, or even momentarily. Unfortunately, just as quickly as my power had come back, it disappeared.

He stood back up, a new, evil smirk on his face. His smile was deeper than before, more natural, and suddenly I realized I had done the one thing I didn't want to do. He came towards me, still acting gently, like he was before, but pushing me further and further, enjoying having finally broken me as I laid helplessly on the board. He repeated the movements from before, this time completing his little ritual by kissing me on the lips, pushing deeper and deeper into my mouth until I felt like I could barely breathe. He let up, allowing me to gasp for air for a second before he took out the memory changing helmet and attached it to me, giving me a smirk, knowing that, for once, all of my memories would be his for the taking.


	17. Love?

**Really sorry about all the time it's taken for me to update. I'm a horrible author. I kind of wasn't very motivated to write this from where I was because I had no idea where I should go with it. After that, I got a lot of ideas for stories of my own and couldn't concentrate on this at all. I apologize so much. I've mostly been sitting around and watching anime. I don't blame you if you don't want to read this until I'm done writing in in about five years at the rate I've been going. Unmotivation is the real culprit here. Well, without further ado, here is Chapter... what? Like 13, 14, something like that.**

Lucy woke up normally, or rather the way she had gotten used to waking up for the past few years, so why did something feel so off about that day, about her life in general. She went over to the mirror in her bathroom and brushed her long brown hair and brushed her teeth, surveying everything with her green eyes. For just a moment, she thought she saw a flicker of brown in them, but that was impossible, her eyes had always been, and always would be green. She had just finished getting dressed when she heard the door slam.

Hurriedly, she ran over to the door and ran out, hoping to convince Kevin to stay. She knew the curse on his eye was bothering him more than usual today, after all, it was a new moon the previous night. She ran over to him begging him, at least to wait until she had made him breakfast. She went over to him, giving him a peck on the cheek as he sat down at the table. She turned around and started to think about their past together as she gathered up the ingredients.

It had been raining for days after she had run away, and with nowhere to go, she was forced to sleep in it. She had gotten very sick, and if she had stayed there any longer, she surely would've died, but then he came along and offered to let her stay at his house for a night. She had gladly accepted, having nowhere else to go. Eventually, one night had turned to a week, a week into a month, and a month into a year until finally, he had given her permanent residence there, confessing that he had known she was there for a while and that he had taken a liking to her, and one thing just led to another. Now, they were married and lived a content life with each other.

"Do you love me?" Lucy asked suddenly, aware that, there seemed to be something missing. "Of course I do." Kevin replied immediately afterward. He sounded so confident so sure, so Lucy decided to believe him. She turned to the fridge, looking for the eggs. She finally spotted the carton, but when she pulled it out, she saw that no eggs save one were there. "Hey, I'm going to go to town really quick, I hope you don't mind, but we need eggs." It was normal for Lucy to go to the town in mornings to get eggs, but something about today seemed off, just different. "Don't go to town, there was just a reported kidnapping, there's no need to get involved in their affairs." "It'll be fine, I'll go and be back in an instant she said. "You don't have to worry, I'll be careful, I always am."Kevin sighed unwillingly, allowing her to go but urging that she made it quick.

Back in town, Lucy was surprised to see few military police present, perhaps they had already solved the crime she thought. She went into the shop where an old lady she knew worked and bought a few eggs before leaving, planning on hurrying home. She was running through the center of town when she ran into somebody with pink hair, a man. All he wore was a vest even though it was winter, and she saw sandals on his feet. She had the odd feeling that he was familiar somehow, though she had no memories of him.

The mysterious boy looked around for a second before spotting her. "Hey, I've been looking for my friend, her name's Lucy. She has brown eyes, mid length blonde hair, really big boobs, and she smells like vanilla and strawberries. She's really nice and friendly and she recently took up a request in this village before she was kidnapped by some creep. The creep has a mask on, so we couldn't tell all of his facial features, but he was pretty tall and had really short brown hair that was darker than yours. So you seen or heard anything about them?" He asked, holding up a crude picture for me to see. Lucy shook her head, She never knew that there was another girl named Lucy in the town, how odd. But it couldn't be her, she had been here for years. She apologized to the man, who seemed to be quite frustrated by the whole incident.

She had just turned to leave when he grabbed her shoulder. "Sorry, I thought I saw something of her in you. I apologize, and thank you for your help." Just as he had said that, the bag with the eggs slid off her shoulder heading straight for the ground. He caught the bag just in time and handed the bag back to her, making brief contact with her hand. The contact felt so warm and comforting that she couldn't help but blush as he turned and walked away.

She ran back to their small cottage in the woods, trying to cover the fact that she was really late. She knew it would be reasonable and even expected that she would be a few minutes late but she was more that a little late. Just as she ran in the door, she looked at the time, hoping she had at least shaved a few minutes off, but fate was not exactly on her side.

She quickly explained to Kevin all about the officers looking for the girl in the city, exaggerating details and twisting bits of truth here and there, but what could she say. She opened the eggs, and cracked one, getting ready to put it in the bowl when she realized that it was already mostly cooked, along with many of the other ones nearby. She recalled the man who had caught them before. His hands had seemed a bit warm. She ignored the fact and used a couple of the eggs from the other side of the carton, making plans to head back to town the next day.

When she had finally finished breakfast, she brought it over to Kevin, grasping his hand with hers briefly, looking for the same warmth and comfort she had felt in the hands of the stranger, but was slightly disappointed when she felt none. She supposed his hands were warmer than normal, but she couldn't help but feel there was something else there.

She walked back in her bathroom and went to fix her hair, realizing her ribbon was in fact, the same color as the man's hair. She walked into her bedroom then, to start doing chores. She noticed that, her covers too, were very similar to the man, with its colors of pink black and gold. She brushed it off as mere coincidence but as she sat there later that night with his image there in her head all day, she felt that perhaps, what she and Kevin had wasn't love at all, and that love was what she had experienced with the man, but that was ridiculous they had only just met. She kept pondering the idea until she fell asleep dreaming, for the first time ever. Dreaming of him.


End file.
